Paul McCartney and producer Youth have been
collaborating on experimental side projects as The Fireman off and on since
1993. That may explain why what once seemed like a weird marriage between a
classic-era godfather and the go-to guy for tasteful studio sheen sounds so
lived-in on Electric Arguments, a casually compelling collection that finds
McCartney cutting loose against a dense backdrop. It's weird mainly for how
unexpectedly traditional most of the tracks sound. The layers of instruments
surrounding "Light From Your Lighthouse," for instance, don't disguise the
traditional gospel song at its heart.
That mostly works in the album's favor. With last
year's Memory Almost Full, McCartney proved he still had the knack for
creating studied pop songs. This plays like a B-side to that album, adding
polish to casually conceived melodies until they start to take on a studio life
of their own. Youth's production—blankets of U2 ambience with the
occasional chiming guitar to match—provides a nice complement to McCartney's
voice, though it all starts to blend together after the mid-point. The album
sounds filled with first instincts; both participants sound as if they were
trying not to overthink their music, fearing if they tried too hard, it might
not have worked as well. But that casualness can be frustrating as well as
pleasing. The promise of tracks like the intensely bluesy "Nothing Too Much
Just Out Of Sight" and the soaring pop of "Sing The Changes" suggests that with
just a little more care, they might have created something truly eye-opening
instead of the "hey, that's not bad" collection they ended up with.