The Singleman Affair reviewed in Gigwise.com

The Singleman Affair – ‘Lets Kill The Summer’ (Poptones) Released 07/08/06
“"a beautifully waning ode to a lost love that would unsettle Devendra’s throne"..."

‘Lets Kill The Summer’ aptly describes the timelessness of depression through naked and haunting atmospherics, it’s emotion in its rawest and most basic form. Alan McGee’s Poptones label is unequivocally hit and miss, but in The Singleman Affair they may redeem some credibility. Instantly the album delves into hippy-ness as the instrumental openers dreamy sitar infuses the albums tone.

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Each track feels timeless yet is undeniably steeped in 60’s folk, Walker Brothers production and a Leonard Cohen temperament. None more than ‘Dragon Flies to Find’ where Mr Shneider calculates the resurrection of a perfect Cohen tune, in the same way Jeffrey Lewis is Cohen’s comic side, The Singleman Affair taps Cohen’s deeper considerations. By no means conventional, tracks often unhinge themselves through crude recording techniques that refresh the tracks direction and conjure a Spaceman 3 Narcotic haze. There are flaws to be found, yet fundamentally the album is both coherent and touching. ‘Little Sister’ is an emotional purge that typifies the naked, considered production Dan Shneider effortlessly constructs, fuck knows what he’s on about but it’s tone and atmosphere is overwhelmingly emotive. Its fair to say forthcoming single ‘Oh To Say’ wont set the world alight, it wouldn’t even smoulder, yet the preceding tune is a beautifully waning ode to a lost love that would unsettle Devendra’s throne.

‘Lets Kill The Summer’ won’t win awards, but if you give it a chance but if you give it a chance it will comfortably stack alongside folk’s most accomplished debuts. 

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