The great news about Contrast from the off is that it doesn’t sound like a Justin Bieber album. It doesn’t penetrate the ears as offensively and as viciously, and avoids rupturing the inner canal with the unsympathetic barbs of chicken wire. This is because Conor Maynard, the spritely little 19-year-old from Brighton has had some help in putting his debut together. The result is a slick, highly-produced record that’s short on length but, tragically, very skilled at drawing that length out to an uncomfortable span. With a producer credit list the length of the San Andreas fault, the album isn’t so much Maynard’s own product as it is the property of all those involved. As a result, it sounds like everything we’ve heard from the likes of Pharrell Williams and Ne-Yo – who aren’t without talent and style per se, but Williams especially forces a hefty amount of his influence into the forty or so minutes that the album chooses to stick around, ultimately detrimental to Maynard’s leverage on the overall tone. In short, Contrast is like a compilation album of modern-day synthpop R&B, with Maynard guest-starring like a karaoke star in the spotlight. Heartbreak, love and lust are dealt ….. Continue Reading
Conor Maynard – Contrast
7BitArcade
