Album Review: Gaz Brookfield - "Idiomatic"


I'd heard of Gaz Brookfield's name before happening upon this album but didn't really know much about the guy to be honest - this is another review on here that's come about thanks to Bandcamp recommending this album on the back of another one we reviewed and liked recently (the Star Botherers' one from last week if anyone's interested).

Anyway, the back story here is that Brookfield is an established folk singer-songwriter from Bristol but over the events of 2020 put out the self-explanatory Lockdown album which showed a much angrier, punkier and plugged-in side to his work and Idiomatic is the follow-up which sees him building on this newly discovered side of his repertoire.

Indeed, the tuneful pop-punk of opener Pantomime reminds me a bit of one of Weezer's more melodic moments and is a strong first shot. Battle Cry sounds like Frank Turner with an added mid-'80s influence (think the Psychedelic Furs or one of the Cure's poppier songs) and the keyboards on The King Of Unprepared and The Art Of Failing give them an almost Pulp-style feel.

Funnily enough, it's only when Brookfield goes back to his past such as on the laconic lullaby Tomorrow's Problem or the overtly chirpy It Will Do For Now that the album starts to lose fire a bit - they're not terrible songs, they just feel a bit unremarkable next to the punked up smalltown anger of Monochrome (similar to Sam Fender or Frank Turner's excellent FTHC album a couple of months ago) or the dark epic Polisher Stone.

Overall, I was really impressed with this album - similar to Frank Turner, Gaz Brookfield appears to be a guy with a good ear for a memorable tune and a thought-provoking lyric. It may have taken me nearly a decade to finally discover his music but hopefully there's an enjoyable voyage of discovery ahead.


NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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