Unless your ears are finely attuned to the pop music grapevine, you probably won't know a whole lot about Gary Go. Something, perhaps, about an iPhone... a support slot on Take That's summer stadium tour... a warm-up act for an eclectic assortment of musicians. In fact, the geeky, bespectacled twentysomething Londoner can pretty much be summed up using only those points of reference; he occasionally uses his iPhone to compose music, and was offered a slot on The 'That's tour on the basis of his debut single alone. Add to that a sentimental story about growing up near Wembley Arena and "hearing concerts waft through his bedroom window as a youngster", and you've got the makings of the next pained chart superstar from the block.
Not to be unfair to Gary Go ('Go' is catchier than 'Baker', apparently), but it's very possible that even he fails to see that he's merely the latest model that fits into the chart-friendly pop/indie niche. Unsurprisingly, his dour piano/guitar ballads, forced melancholy and wistful, identikit orchestral passages have already brought him success: his debut single 'Wonderful' was a Top 30 hit in the UK, and this album will indubitably follow its lead.
Fans of Athlete, Coldplay and Sting will adore these pedestrian, po-faced pop-rock tunes that masquerade as clever arrangements. But they're not clever. And they're not inventive. They're hackneyed, clichéd, daytime radio fodder for middle-aged bankers and clueless teenagers, although shoehorning the word 'anti-histamine' into a song intended to tug on your heartstrings ('So So') does elicit a sort of grudging admiration. Otherwise, Gary Go, despite his earnest demeanour and the patronage of all the 'right' people, should really just Go away.
