Brave Captain
Advertisements for Myself
Wichita Recordings/Clearspot

Advertisements for Myself is the third attempt from Brave Captain (a.k.a. Martin Carr - once the creative core of the Boo Radleys), following The Fingertip Saint Sessions Vol 1 and Go With Yourself (Fingertip Saint Sessions Vol 2). Brave Captain is said to be the bastard offspring of Brian Wilson and Yoko Ono. Welcome to Art Beach.

I used to be a huge Boo Radleys fan. And Martin Carr was one of the pop-kings when the Boo's had their golden days. Now he's gone from a pop-royalty to the military rank of a Captain. A brave one that is. Meaning dangerous missions behind "enemy" lines, into the experimental unknown? Well, he's definitely crossing genre borders, exploring something beyond the pop he used to create. Not that everything the Boo Radleys did was plain pop. On the contrary.

Advertisements for Myself starts with an anthem for the record label, "The Sound of Wichita", and both in this one as well as "Stand Up And Fight" and "Rod's Got One" it's easy to hear music created by Carr. There's a pop touch within, even though he throws in loopy programming, after picking up inspiration from acts like Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. Then there's "I Was A Teenage Death Squad" which is almost a 100% Boo Radleys song.

There's a lot of quirky, little fillers inbetween. Short oddities, tracks with less melody and more, uh, challenging. Other more convential songs brings Brave Captain back to the world of pop, such as "Betsi's Beads" and the very nice "This Weight That You Have Found".

Alltogether I feel a bit confused of what's going on and where Brave Captain is going all the time. And despite some more than alright tracks I tip-toe over to flip on Giant Steps once more. Nostalgic? Yup, that's my middle name.

Copyright © 2002 Håvard Oppøyen