<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love Whitman\u2019s Samplers, those yellow boxes of chocolates set in tiny plastic containers. Usually when confronted with a Whitman\u2019s, I eschew the list detailing what\u2019s in each chocolate and take a chance. Sometimes I get the one with hard toffee inside, of which I\u2019m not a fan, but I don\u2019t suffer too much \u2014 it is surrounded by chocolate after all.<\/p>\n
Numbers, the latest effort from Oregon\u2019s John Craig and The Weekend (though it was only recently when The Weekend included others not named John Craig), shares a certain affinity with a Whitman\u2019s box. I wasn\u2019t sure what I was getting into song by song, but ultimately I left with a feeling of satisfaction and a bit of guilt for liking it as much as I did.<\/p>\n
There is a melding of genres within Numbers you don\u2019t see too often in today\u2019s music \u2013 this album brings elements of funk, 80s pop, rap, soaring piano ballads, electronica and indie. Echoes of Stevie Wonder and Prince share time with Radiohead, Coldplay and Death Cab for Cutie, and I swear certain songs remind me of Billy Joel, though I can\u2019t quite figure out why (maybe it\u2019s the whole having two first names thing).<\/p>\n
There\u2019s plenty of experimentation going on \u2013 \u201cNewstories\u201d opens with dramatic piano and a funky R&B groove before diving into a pure 80s bridge paired with a voice talking over the pounding drums. It\u2019s plenty to digest. The funk returns in \u201cWe Are Whatever,\u201d a song with comical Seinfeld bass lines but a killer sing-along chorus. Wasn\u2019t sure what to make of it as a whole \u2013 it wasn\u2019t quite hard toffee, but it wasn\u2019t too far off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Only Way (Neck)\u201d was a wild surprise, an ordinary tune hyped up properly by rapper Gold of Sandpeople, who\u2019s lyrical clarity and intonation works well.<\/p>\n
But the best work on Numbers are the songs where the band doesn\u2019t do too much. The duet \u201cSink or Swim\u201d \u2013 on which Craig joins forces with Nicole Berke \u2013 is a bright song that climbs and falls ably with their voices. \u201cOld Faces\u201d is simple and elegant, the light piano and subtle slide guitar merges well with Craig\u2019s lyrics. It\u2019s a song that never outstays its welcome.<\/p>\n
The album ending song \u201cNumbers\u201d takes a page from the Thom Yorke playbook (but that whistle is pure Billy Joel), giving the album a soothing yet odd end (perhaps caramel with nuts?) All in all, John Craig and The Weekend has created a gratifying treat \u2014 one worth trying again and again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I love Whitman\u2019s Samplers, those yellow boxes of chocolates set in tiny plastic containers. Usually when confronted with a Whitman\u2019s, I eschew the list detailing what\u2019s in each chocolate and take a chance. Sometimes I get the one with hard toffee inside, of which I\u2019m not a fan, but I don\u2019t suffer too much \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[487],"class_list":["post-1529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-john-craig-and-the-weekend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1529"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1531,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529\/revisions\/1531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}