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Sweet Baboo: The Boombox Ballads
Aided by friends within the burgeoning Welsh-pop scene, including Cate Le Bon & H Hawkline, as well as arranger Paul Jones' dynamic string- & horn-sections, Sweet Baboo has made a mature pop record that retains the best aspects of youthful romance, both interpersonal and musical.
Genuine charm is hard to manufacture - you kinda have to be born with it. Welsh charmer Stephen Black, who records under the name Sweet Baboo, definitely has it, almost to a fault. The mostly piano-based, mostly love songs on his latest album, The Boombox Ballads, are sung in such an effortless, guileless manner, it would be easy to overlook the tracks' solid structures and depths. Taking cues from artists like Harry Nilsson, Ray Davies, Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian and Sam Prekop of the Sea and Cake, Sweet Baboo explores the quieter side of love; not a teen-idol kind of puppy love, but a more sturdy, loving domesticity only attainable once one has found a life partner. Aided by friends within the burgeoning Welsh-pop scene, including Cate Le Bon & H Hawkline, as well as arranger Paul Jones' dynamic string- & horn-sections, Sweet Baboo has made a mature pop record that retains the best aspects of youthful romance, both interpersonal and musical.
-Eric J. Lawrence
Tracklist:
1. Sometimes
2. Got To Hang On To You
3. You Are Gentle
4. Two Lucky Magpies
5. The Boombox Ballad
6. You Got Me Time Keeping
7. Walking In The Rain
8. I Just Want To Be Good
9. Tonight You Are A Tiger
10. Over & Out