Tom Chaplin’s third solo album, ‘Midpoint’, released with BMG, is a diamond. Multi-faceted, reflective and sonically sublime; I long for a week-long road trip with nothing but these thirteen tracks for company.
Whilst the title track currently jars with me – I get the concept, and I love the ‘Midpoint’ video, directed by Lucy Bridger and starring Niamh Cussack – I have no doubt I will eventually reconcile with the vocal difference Chaplin presents in the first part of this almost five minute story of dealing with your forties.
However, the upbeat ‘Gravitational’, the second single to be shared from the album, heard on radio stations around the UK in July, and mesmerizingly performed for the full six minutes at Chaplin’s album launch, is one of the strongest tracks on ‘Midpoint’. That hook stays with you as you dance around the room. Any room. Every room.
Keane frontman, Chaplin, has an enigmatic – at times ethereal – voice, both as a singer since Keane burst onto stages with ‘Hopes and Fears’ in 2004, and more recently in the sharing of his mental health journey. His first solo project, the silver-certified Wave, reached the top three in 2017 and was followed by a Christmas album featuring a mix of originals and classic covers. ‘Midpoint’ has been a few years in the making for Chaplin, and absolutely worth the wait. Here’s why.
The honesty, of relatable life experiences, wrapped up in musical beauty, is the standout feature of Chaplin’s ‘Midpoint’ project, produced by Ethan Johns, and will resonate with audiences around the UK during the October tour and long afterwards.
Opening track ‘All Fall Down’ delivers a delicious piano minute that sounds like a film score before Chaplin’s welcome, distinctive vocals join the ballad that sounds like a conversation about mental health, “If you think you’re going it alone, I’ve come to let you know/We All Fall Down…if you’re sinking like a stone, maybe I can slow you down.” The lyric is delivered almost haltingly, adding to the show of friendship offered to the listener.
A delicate percussion charts the arrival of following ballad, ‘Rise and Fall’ developing the wave theme of life and Chaplin’s lived philosophy with lyrics like, “How we rise and fall, balancing with every single turn/Something that we learn in the rise and fall”.
Video game sounds and a child’s laughter can be heard at the start of ‘Black Hole’ which also includes echoes of a Far East sound, reminding us that the four lads from Keane are a global band. The tempo picks up a piano on ‘Stars Align’, accompanied by a hopeful mid-track whistling from Chaplin, offering an honest statement of trusting your intuition and that it’s okay to wait, hoping your stars will align.
‘Colourful Light’, ‘Gonna Run’ and ‘It’s Over’ act as a flash of several years and revelations before Chaplin takes us to the ‘Midpoint’, a rather unique, perhaps intentionally fractured song. But then, Picasso enjoyed deconstructing and reconstructing; midlife affects us all differently, but reflectively the same.
‘Panoramic Eyes’ is a clear, piano-based mid-tempo track, echoing the earlier ‘All Fall Down’. Dawn has arrived and swept the streets clean. The clear skies after a storm; look at the bigger picture, keep going until you see your purpose. There’s also an incredible sax solo just over half-way through.
The final three tracks, ‘New Flowers’, ‘Cameo’ and ‘Overshoot’ ensure the album ends on a buoyant note, looking forward to the next stage of life, on venue stages and as a family man. The last words of my review belong to an almost acapella Chaplin on ‘Overshoot’ the piano pausing to define the moment; “with a little luck, we’ll be dancing, when the lights go up…when the ship goes down, we’ll be hand in hand”.
Track listing: 1. All Fall Down 2. Rise and Fall 3. Black Hole 4. Stars Align 5. Colourful Light 6. Gonna Run 7. It’s Over 8. Midpoint 9. Panoramic Eyes 10. Gravitational 11. New Flowers 12. Cameo 13. Overshoot Record label: BMG Release date: 2nd September 2022 Buy ‘Midpoint’ now
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