Too safe by half, Joe Cang’s ‘Firefly’ fails to either catch flame or take flight. The self-production suffers with one too many coats of gloss and the songs, while pleasant, tread a predictably well-worn white soul path.
Cang’s credentials and effortlessly soulful voice – echoing Cat Stevens - deserve better service. A tour of duty with Hall & Oates concurs with the album’s style on display, but being a member of Scritti Politti (on the classic ‘Songs To Remember from 1982) surely demands an edge to the proceedings.
Over its course, ‘Firefly’ feels like the kind of polished but pointless solo album that once-talented singers/musicians make when they’ve paid off the mortgage, sent the kids through public school and have left their creative days long behind (usually somewhere in the previous decade). It’s a telling indictment when the ears only perk up on the briefly ambient and voiceless ‘Interlude 1’ and ‘Interlude 2’, both clocking in at less than one minute.
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Cang flirts with some blues on ‘Church’, with African folk on ‘One for Marlon’ and Celtic folk on ‘Trust Me’ (including the obligatory penny whistle); ‘Bad Luck’ is Carole King circa ‘Tapestry’. Frustratingly, most songs remind you of better efforts by other artists who stopped making this kind of music a long while back. Overall, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this album was a cash-in re-release of something made twenty years ago.
Joe Cang is evidently a talented musician but he lacks ambition and purpose on ‘Firefly’. An opportunity missed.
www.manjomusic.com
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