It’s a Musical
Album : ‘The Music Makes Me Sick’ on New Music Club
released 15/03/10
rating 3/5

It’s a Musical are a tricky act to define. The best I can come up with is Alternative Pop. Which isn’t what The Ear Horn is really about but something about this record captivated me.

It’s a Musical apparently got fed up with being fed up and decided to put on some colourful T-shirts and trousers and make some happy music. Sounds like a terrible idea, but actually rather than sounding like Wham! or Alphabeat they made a record of well arranged and very enjoyable songs. An electronic element is ever present over the live drums of the very proficient Robert Kretzschmar who is consistently inventive throughout. The vocals are mainly handled by Ella Blixt who has a very sweet and matter of fact delivery.

The saving grace of ‘The Music Makes Me Sick’ is that despite the duo’s colourful shirts they have managed to avoid churning out too much cheese. They make feel good music with some integrity sort of like the Police used to do .

That said, It’s a Musical are potentially quite annoying, while there are plenty of songs such as ‘Lazy’, ‘Dinosaur’ and ‘What All People Know’ that are strong enough to be universally appealing. There are moments, like the opening title track and ‘The Circus’ which you may never be in the mood for.

While it is difficult to put a finger on, there is definitely something about this record that makes it a bit of a diamond.

Jack Hancock