I discovered Simon Curtis and his new album”RA” (styled with a Greek delta character for the A) because iTunes suggested him after I bought Darren Hayes’s new single “Talk Talk Talk” (from his upcoming album “Secret Codes and Battleships” expected out in October, which I will definitely be talking about here). I listened to a couple of the track samples and enjoyed them, so I bought the album on a gamble that it would be decent.
I then spent four days listening to Darren’s new “Talk Talk Talk” and his cover of Madonna’s “Angel” on repeat.
After that I went back and gave Simon Curtis’s album a listen and I was very impressed with it. I can definitely see why buying Darren Hayes prompted iTunes to suggest him. Their singing styles have a couple of similarities, particularly when Curtis goes into his higher register (which he definitely doesn’t do as often as Hayes) they sound almost identical. Tracks on which this is particularly evident are “Flesh” and “How to Start a War”. When Curtis doesn’t sound like Darren Hayes, his voice bears a striking resemblance to Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. In fact, on the more rock-influenced tracks on the album, such as “D.T.M” and “Get in Line”, Curtis seems to be taking a few other cues from Linkin Park, with stuttered drum beats and distorted vocals.
The album overall is both up-beat and aggressive while retaining some real sentimentality in it’s lyrics. There aren’t any tracks on the album that I would call down-tempo but some of them, particularly “How to Start a War” (which best utilizes his impressive vocal range and flexibility) and “Enemy”, explore deep and difficult emotions. What’s impressive is that they communicate these feelings without sounding melancholy or sedate. Like Linkin Park and other bands in the alternative/rock genre, Curtis takes an angry stance in several tracks on the album including “D.T.M.” (which stands for “dead to me”) and “I Hate U”.
On iTunes, Curtis has been labeled pop but I think that is too simplistic for the kind of music that he is actually recording. His sound is a combination of pop sensibilities and hooks, dance beats, electronic sounds and mixing and a rock/alternative in-your-face aggression. That Curtis is able to combine such a myriad of musical and singing styles into a single album and have it sound cohesive, smooth and polished is admirable, especially since he is a self-produced artist that has not been picked up by any label. He released his first album “8-bit Heart” for free on his website, simon-curtis.com after reaching a stated goal of eight-thousand followers on Twitter, a gamble for spreading his music to as many listeners as possible instead of making profits on the album which seems to have paid off.
This is definitely an album I would recommend purchasing and an artist that I will be paying attention to. If you’re a fan of Adam Lambert, Linkin Park Darren Hayes or Lady Gaga, you’ll definitely enjoy giving this album a listen. Or two or three.
Plus he’s totally cute, right?
