>I was stopped in the street by a homeless guy at lunchtime. There’s nothing too unusual about that – there are plenty in the park near ANBAD Towers. The park seems to serve as a kind of Tramp Créche, and usually, they potter around happily, drinking Frosty Jack’s cider and worrying the middle classes. Anyway, this particular unsteady guy asked me for money. In fact, what he specifically said was, “Excuse me mate, have you got any spare change? I need eleven pence.” Eleven pence? Specifically eleven? Why?
This was an unusual tactic, and nearly threw me from my usual tactic of gruffly mumbling, “no,” whilst feeling slightly empty inside and walking on, but I held firm and screwed him out of his 11p. Such left-field thinking from our nation’s homeless folk means that surely a new super breed of tramp has arisen, and any time now, will be the taking over. I, for one, welcome our our bearded, surprisingly sportswear-beclothed and befuddled masters.
So while we wait for the Trampocalypse, how about a little light music? Today’s New Band isn’t really a band – he’s a solo artiste – but I’m not changing the name of the website for just anybody, you know. E. K. Wimmer is a songwriter who is recording music solo after a seven year absence, which I think is a long enough time to re-classify him as ‘New’.
His songs linger in that space between simple and complex. At their barest, the songs’ sparseness is enveloping, mournful and close. Simply Call My Name starts as a lovely, intimate voice ‘n’ guitar song which then explodes unexpectedly. A burst of loud, shocking noise could, in other circumstances, have been a cheap trick, but here it actually underlines the lovely lyrical lament.
The Closer We Get is the sound of a hurt man sidling up to you and spilling his story, in a tearfully masculine way. Gentle and harsh; raw and slick; distant and cloying – E.K. Wimmer‘s songs manage to occupy both sides of the same coin.
‘Emotion’ is a dirty word in rock because of the ridiculous posturing and exaggeration of the Emo idiots (Emorons?), but here it is, laid out before you. And not a straightened asymmetrical fringe in sight, which is why you might fancy a listen to E.K. Wimmer right here.