There Goes the Fear, a UK/US Music Web site | Live UK gigs, news, and events

Single Review: Fyfe Dangerfield – She Needs Me

Fyfe Dangerfield, the 29-year-old frontman of quirk-pop band The Guillemots has a knack for creating sweeping, unbelievably romantic songs. He did it with the Guillemots’ ‘Made Up Love Song #43’ and has done it again with his new track.

‘She Needs Me’ is taken from Fyfe’s first solo album, ‘Fly Yellow Moon,’ and will be released 11th January on Geffen Records. Hailed by Zane Lowe as the Hottest Record in the World on 18th November, the track is said to be the most pop-sounding song on the album – it’s certainly more pop-sounding than ‘When She Walks in the Room,’ the free download you get for signing up to his mailing list (trust me, it’s well worth it). But while it may be conventional compared to his usual sound, the track is anything but boring. It perfectly combines strings, horns, pounding piano and powerful vocals (even falsetto at times) – a combination that could easily come out as a jumbled mess. It’s the little touches, like the tinkling piano about 2 minutes in, that really take the song to another level. This is the genius of Fyfe Dangerfield – he somehow manages to be the kind of pop star you can take home to your parents while still being pretty damn cool.

If the music itself doesn’t make you fall in love with the song, then the lyrics will. Sung with such honesty and emotion that it saves them from sounding clichéd or cheesy, the lyrics are simple and romantic: “you pull another blanket ’round me / this is where I want to be / she needs me, and it’s ok”. On his website, Dangerfield says “I’ll always, whether or not I actually want to, be drawn more than anything to emotions rather than the mathematics of music”. And that is why this single is just as genius as any of the Guillemots’ tracks. It’s the pure musical representation of a simple feeling: “I am yours, you can do what you like with me.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBPt2kfqi90[/youtube]

‘She Needs Me’ will be released 11th January on Geffen Records. The album ‘Fly Yellow Moon’ will be released on 18th January, and is available for presale on fyfedangerfield.com in both standard and deluxe editions.

Fyfe will be playing four gigs in the UK around the release of the album:

Mon 18th January 2010 – Birmingham, Glee Club
Tues 19th January 2010 – Manchester, Deaf Institute
Wed 20th January 2010 – Glasgow, ABC
Thurs 21st January 2010 – London, Scala