THE SWEET CHAP (aka Mike Comber) hails from south coast musical mecca Brighton and has already been getting to grips with the net-based biz revolution with an impressive 50,000 downloads to his name of previous single "A Girl With The Curl"/ "Superman 3".
His other recent advancements have included supports with Kosheen and on-air endorsement from the likes of Xfm, so he's clearly doing something right. The blurb relating to his imminent debut album "Disco For A Domestic" (due in August) also refers to the likes of 'P-Funk basslines' and 'New Orleans horns', both of which are reference points liable to hook in this reviewer.
Thus, with appetite suitably whetted, "Shiver" comes as a mild disappointment, unfortunately. It's certainly not bad, although my main beef is that it's plodding and one-dimensional, built as it is around the simplest of acoustic guitar motifs and basic drum machine. The main selling point to these ears is The Sweet Chap's vocal; a soulful thing of wonder which brings to mind fairly unfashionable troubadours such as Roland Gift, Tom Chaplin or the geezer from Lighthouse Family yet for all that soars delectably above the rooftops.
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A case of swings and roundabouts, then. "Shiver" on its' own isn't enough to convince this writer, but he still likes what he hears about The Sweet Chap enough to want to hear the album when it drops. Let's not be hasty where this fella is concerned.
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