Steve Basham – Thick Cuts

Basham’s latest is dripping with Mortfell Oktorium’s goofy-yet-relatable character of humour and DIY production, in the form of some seriously up-tempo numbers. Seriously, no one can deliver a punch line like that of “Bad Mood:” A mermaid pops out of the river and makes a come-hither motion. “I wasn’t really in the mood / But I didn’t want to be rude! / She was quite the dish / And I wanna return that fish!” This is his third solo album as a follow up to Thick and Thicker, and he recently, to really prove that he’s serious, started playing with The Upsides and they’ve donned themselves The Girth. Unfortunately, length is seriously lacking here (none of these tracks break the 2-minute mark) but that’s not a problem as they certainly are thick with lightning-quick quips and proto-punk energy. “Seriously Not Serious” is the album’s “Marquee Moon” as the most serious number (or is it?!) with Basham analyzing his own talents and it ends with a palatable guitar duet in under a minute and forty seconds. (Independent, www. soundcloud.com/stevebasham) Taylor Burgess