Marcus Rexford – ‘Exposure EP’ [Review]
Time and patience are beautiful things. Without time, you’re screwed: You’ll wind up late for everything, faced with angry people at every turn, and you won’t get anything done. Without patience, you won’t use the time you do have effectively, squandering it instead on the pursuit of instant gratification and doing nothing of any lasting usefulness.
When you have both time and patience on your side, however, you will be duly rewarded. And that’s what has happened to London-based songwriter Marcus Rexford. This EP shows all the telltale signs of relentless drive and obsessive attention to detail that inevitably result in positive reviews and happy listeners. Track-by-track breakdown below:
Wage Working Boy: Cool guitar-pop. A touch of Ed Sheeran in the vocals – a nice contemporary touch, if an oft-repeated one these days. Sweet and consistent guitar playing and plenty of hooks.
Lost At Last: Compressed and clipped clean funk, clear John Mayer influence but I’m a fan, so that’s fine by me. A little electronic glitching pitching us into the outro, complete with soloing that reminds me of Jamiroquai’s Rob Harris.
Disposition: Seriously cool jazz guitar with a beat suitable for use behind a New York skate video. Elicitation of nostalgia, nice and relaxing, and a well-chosen bit of spoke dialogue over the top.
Over My Head: Upbeat and bouncy pop with very tasteful lead guitar staying out of the vocal’s way. The chorus feels like an uncomfortably low-energy point in this track, perhaps due to the amount of tension built up by the pre-chorus riff and a lack of busy hi-hats during the chorus itself; the rest, however, is clean, pristine, and professionally produced. Overall, a great track.
Lay Me Down: Love the slide work in here! The vocal is great, very Mayer-esque, but the guitar steals the show.
Overall, the Exposure EP is great, but sounds a little like it’s chasing the pop market – a notoriously fickle beast – with its clear John Mayer influence. For me, that’s fine – I love John Mayer – but in terms of building a sustainable career it would be cool to hear Marcus Rexford dive deep into himself and pull out something a little more unique next time. Perhaps the electronic influences are intended to lead the listener in that direction.
The more strings to Marcus’s bow, the better. While being able to sound like John Mayer is a great talent to have, thousands of other guitarists are already fighting to be his replacement. In the guitar world, the competition is fierce – but if you hear things that nobody else can, and meld it together with something familiar, you’re golden. Judging by this EP, Marcus Rexford is more than halfway there.
Links
Marcus Rexford on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcusrexford
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