Tony Wright's Self-Examination Found On Detailed Solo Debut

 

Reflective and heartfelt acoustic confessions.

As front-man for Terrorvision Tony Wright is the bloke with the upbeat, enthusiastic persona singing instantly likeable pop/metal songs crammed with top-drawer tunes and an infectious knees-up appeal that endeared them to mainstream affections. A cross-genre quirkiness that won them a number 2 slot in the UK singles chart with the mirth-filled tongue in cheek melee Tequila.

Between lengthy Terrorvision interludes and ’other’ band projects (Laika Dog) he’s written a solo album that reveals a different side to the man you assumed you knew, a man you’d never have thought might one day turn around and be so philosophically reflective as to sketch out the intimacy of thought with nothing but wide open acoustic vulnerability.

The ghosts of memories reveal their presence, a haunting manifestation of protagonists veering from subdued reflection to outright dysphoria… Tony Wright is the versatile raconteur bringing it all to life, slipping effortlessly from confessional narrator to finger pointing observer to name checking chronicler to introspective explorer he shakes out endless fistfuls of personal stuff and charts each in a tenderised, unobtrusive simplicity.

Like the flagellating "Self Portrait (Rock-a-Boogie-Merchant)" uttering out it’s self dialogue with a skipping bounce, the tuneful admittance ‘I’m a lowdown, good for nothing, son of a gun weasel’ is a brilliantly vibrant guilt trip. The emphatic sentiments of "Love Hold On" span the songs entirety with a brooding regret and hopeful optimism like a self conscious route-map referencing the cause of every consequence that actualized such an emotional trek.

"Shallow Pool (Train Wreck)" is a strung-out boozers lament while the stunningly under-produced "Do You Love Me" is a sublime, emotion jangling declaration of devotion… the bare bones of sincerity exposed in the pleading rhetoric of ‘do you think about me like I think about you’... is that snapshot of self doubt pasted on a million billboards for the world to gaze upon.

The almost sentimental reminiscing melodrama "Great Horton" and the despondently likeable "Little Things" have a shared kaleidoscopic gravitas. There are those of us who often wondered if Tony Wright had a good solo album in him... consider it confirmed!

Tony Wright's
Facebook page. Words by Alan Baillie

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