Sean Lennon has always had an enormous shadow on his back. It can’t be easy to play music when your father practically invented the artful pop song. However, Sean Lennon’s debut album, “Into the Sun,” showed a surprisingly contemporary sound in 1998. Full of lounge jazz rock and Beck-style eclecticism (well, circa-1998 Beck, anyway), “Into the Sun” was well received critically. However, that was it. Lennon joined fun-popsters Cibo Mato and fell off the radar. Now, Lennon is back, eight years later and miles away stylistically. “Friendly Fire” is a collection of quiet, pretty folk pop songs. If anything, this is the album most people probably expected from him initially. Yet change was inevitable. If “Into the Sun” came out today, it would sound dated, and it is likewise enjoyable to hear Lennon making a mature album of pop songs.
“Friendly Fire” bears more of the stamp of Lennon’s father than his first album, although with all the acoustic guitars, it often sounds like the influence of John Lennon has come to Sean refracted by Elliott Smith and Thom Yorke. There is also the traces of Jon Brion’s work. (“Tomorrow,” with its retro, whimsical vibes, sounds especially like Brion’s work on the score for P.T. Anderson’s “Punch Drunk Love”). The ten songs here may skew a bit too much towards adult contemporary for some listeners, but there is an affecting pop sensibility in these songs, even if it most are softer and melancholy. “Friendly Fire” also functions well as an album, one that doesn’t immediately wallop you with one-song razz-matazz, but gradually dawns on you over its full length. These songs are, in many ways, small but effective and memorable.
Lyrically, the album has a pronounced dark side. The title track as well as other songs deal with the death of Lennon’s estranged best friend, who had had an affair with his girlfriend at the time. This produces an interesting mix of hurt, though sometimes the lyrics tend too much towards the woe-is-me self-reflection. This solipsism is also present, albeit to a lesser degree, on an acoustic hidden track addressed to John Lennon. Sean Lennon was only five when John was murdered and the song details the heartbreaking effects that can have on a boy, as well as the complex emotions of losing a father early. However, there are also missteps such as when Lennon seems to complain about his mother’s absence or taint some lovely observations with the sentimental chorus platitude “The dead don’t speak, they listen.” Other tracks such as “On Again, Off Again,” “Parachute,” and “Dead Meat” do mix lovely pop melodies with strong pop lyrics. While there may be times where the energy, enthusiasm and unpredictability of “Into the Sun” are missed, Lennon has made a success delayed follow-up, as well as a strong pop album. |