Andy Smythe and his Emergency present itself quickly. It was not noisily, but just spontaneously there, as the light varies in a street when the clouds shift without any previous notice. It changes the mood virtually without your awareness. Something out of the ordinary, something rollicking. It doesn't push. It simply hangs around you, and that is likely the reason why it works.
He is playing a good part of it himself, guitar, piano, bass, organ, and you can tell that it is of a single hand, a single decision. Nothing comes out as deliberately orchestrated. The lead guitar of Paul Challenger comes in where it should be, gives a little lift, and subsides. Smythe has a warm and steady voice, without showiness. has a rustic charm at the fringes.
The music is motion without drawing much attention to itself. It is surrounded by guitar lines that twist around it in a manner that suggests older British pop, yet it does not even pause to admire the fact. It has a touch of rock, a slight lean towards country, and then it goes. It is a catchy one though you do not notice immediately. It is more of one falling into it than falling on it. has a natural quality. Nothing strained.
The song opens up as it goes. The initial sections are intimate, almost huddling, and then the sound expands, but not abruptly, but gradually. One can feel that there is a sense of urgency there, but it is not hasty. Asking without panicking. The production is a result of that instinct, which makes a step forward and draws back when necessary. It does not hurry the song about anything.
The Beatles are audible in the harmonies, perhaps Neil Young in the manner the narration is told, but does not get into parody. That is the background of those influences. What is more emanates out of Smythe himself, his pacing, his restraint. The song does not attempt to either sound contemporary or old school. It merely sounds like it had been done with a loving hand.
At some point towards the end I noticed that I was smiling. No big moment, just there. Foot moving a little. Considering the number of times when people request assistance, but do not say it aloud. The song does not solve this idea. It doesn't need to. It simply continues and then it ceases.
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