WE'RE TOO YOUNG (Andy Bull)

1. We’re Too Young
2. Young Man
3. She’s A Ghost
4. Small Town Girl
5. One Thing You Should Know
6. Girls!
7. Do You Recall
8. Go Outside
9. Grown Folk
10. You Make It So Hard To Love You
11. Sum Of All My Dreams

How does one strike such a point of difference and not be known for it? Well, I ask the question as a follower of music because for Bull, a 23-year-old Sydney-sider, it's hard to imagine that he wouldn't be recognised almost instantaneously in as small a music industry as we have here in Australia. For the striking difference amongst the eleven songs on Andy Bull's debut album isn't the fact that he treads a line few other Australian artists are, that is within the world of soul, but rather the uniquely feminine quality to his voice.

On first listen one might be forgiven for thinking that they were listening to a young female singer-songwriter had they not seen the album's cover; however, as the lyrics take hold and one takes notice it becomes quite evident that here is a thoughtful young artist struggling with all the same problems young men do in their search for what it is that makes them unique within the world of masculinity.

It isn't the necessarily obvious songs about masculinity that grab the listener straight away, however, as is the case with 'Young Man'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljJtKwTirTw

For whilst it plays well amongst his eleven-long lineup it's a little less interesting than his lyrical work in the likes of track 3, 'She's A Ghost', and track 4, 'Small Town Girl'.

For 'She's A Ghost' is hilariously lighthearted in its recollection of a bad relationship.

Oh oh oh
She's in my bedroom
Oh oh oh
She's in my dreams
Yeah, but, no no no
It's not as nice as it might sound
She's a ghost ghost ghost
She's haunting me

Anne Boleyn you know you never did belong here anyway
But you stayed you stayed anyway
So i'll cut your head off and I'll throw it away

And he's wonderfully honest in a naive-wracked way in 'Small Town Girl'.

No you don't have to say
I know where I go astray
It was gunna go down anyway
I only wish that I could've known what I know now today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1qHh9MSFKg

In the end We're Too Young surprises with its ability to hark back to the days of Motown Soul and yet still sound fresh. The fact Bull is a young Aussie lad belies the fact that he's been able to channel such authenticity in his sound. It's a good 'un and a bright, sunny start to what will hopefully amount to a strong year in musical releases.