Trevor Trove

"Blackbird singing in the dark/ Falling like a star/ But singing like a lark"

I allude to these lines later in the review, but thoughtthey were worth quoting here. C'mon, Trev, don't you know that a simile is supposed to find unexpected relationships between two things for poetic effect, not to liken something to something pretty similar in such a way as to emphasise their differences?

"The dog was barking as loud as another dog - quite a loud one", is not a great simile.

If Robbie Burns had been Trev he'd not have written "My love is like a red, red rose," but "My love is like fondness. You know, an emotion that expresses amorous feelings. Yeah, that's about right".

I personally think Trev wanted to write about blackbirds because he likes Paul McCartney...


TREV WILLIAMS – KEEP SINGING EP (Self release)


Trev Williams is one of the good guys. One of Oxford music’s nice blokes, he always has a smile and a positive lyric for any passer by. Except when he gets a bit angry and moans about everything, but even the he tends to apologise afterwards. Top man. But still, we’ve never really got a grasp on his music, which we’ve always found pleasant, harmless and – let’s be frank – trite. His trio The Follys, despite an infuriating approach to pluralisation, made a tight enough noise we’ll admit, but we still couldn’t find much in the songwriting to get excited about.

Then, about 18 months ago, we were watching Trev play at the arse end of some bill somewhere, and suddenly realised that we were enjoying it. The new songs wormed their way into our consciousness in a way the older ones never had, and a Labi Siffre cover proved that Trev had polished his singing voice. This new EP proves conclusively that the best thing a musician can have is not perfect pitch, posh equipment or a Dad who works for EMI, but determination and dedication. It’s a great little listen, and welcomes Trev into the upper echelons of Oxford’s singer-songwriters.

“Happy Song” might be the sort of platitudinous pop that Trev is wont to indulge in, but it does sound pretty great, with a delayed toy piano complementing an approachable vocal melody. Its optimistic bonhomie can be a little wearing, like having some Phil Daniels impersonator slap you on the back gurning “Cheer up, might never ‘appen” every 8 bars, but it’s undeniably well put together. “In The Dark” is similar fare. The song doesn’t set us alight – in fact, the only memorable bit is snaffled from “My Girl” – but it’s probably the best vocal performance Trev has ever put onto wax, and the crisp production is built around a supply dark keyboard part that puts us in mind of Red Snapper.

This pair are all very well and good, but it’s the other two tracks that really show how Williams has developed. Nightshift Demo Of The Month winner “You Cut, We Bleed” still sounds wonderful, a burst of rage and reverb that blossoms into a life-affirming piano jaunt when the pressure threatens to break the song apart. It was composed in response to recent public spending cuts, but frankly the lyrics are so opaque that it could easily have been about sloppy management at Trev’s favourite football club, or the time his housemate drank all the milk. No problems there, the simplicity and directness of the lyrics makes the song feel universal, and suggests it may have a shelf life beyond the current administration.

It’s a great tune, but it’s eclipsed by the title track. We’ll skim over the opening couplet, which has one of the clumsier similes we’ve ever heard, and jump straight into the meat of the song, a gorgeous cyclical, floating melody that wafts over the top of delicately plucked guitar. Live versions have often drifted away into loop pedal heaven, and our only real criticism of the piece is that we could have done with more of it. Anyone who thinks this review sounds a bit patronising or distant might like to know that the last time we found ourselves inadvertently humming an Oxford tune this much, it was “Zorbing”, which is high praise indeed. Keep singing? If there’s one thing we can conclude about this release, it’s that we hope Trev takes his own advice, and that there’s lots more like this to come.