I have been working on this one for far too long now so, as promised, here it finally is!

'Stir Crazy' is the brand new offering from Riyadh born Karim Fanous, a rising singer on the rock/pop scene with an impressive schooling in
popular music.

A fan of such greats as AC/DC and even Joni Mitchell, Karim's music takes an interesting perspective and original style. His background is largely responsible for the sophisticated and pondering lyrics, and his extensive classical music training indicates the talent this new singer holds.
(Press speak for what I'm supposed to think of it!)

Now to what I actually do think of it:

The sound varies between a sort of rocky-soul sound and simple pop, his lyrics, however, are interesting, The title track, 'Stir Crazy', appears to be about his recent life experiences trying to make it in the music business and how he feels about the ups and downs with an effective dreamy melody.

The dude has a fairly diverse background and his biography tells me he was raised in London by a Palestinian father and a Greek/Syrian/Turkish mother (perhaps it's actually her that's diverse?), he uses this upbringing effectively with aspects of his sound branching out to many genres, and people from all walks of life who can enjoy a quirky, ironic and often amusing view on life.

I would agree that this is a mixture of indie, pop and soft rock and on the whole I enjoyed the album, the stand out tracks include 'Perfume', the previously mentionned 'Stir Crazy' and 'Ship is Sinking'. Most of which I'm sure you can find via his myspace page. I would recommend him to fans of Eagle Eye Cherry or Damien Rice and perhaps at a push someone like David Gray or a younger Colin Hay, his guitar work reminds me of aspects of Prince although with a more bluesy sound which creates some sound (teehee) tunes.

You can check out his stuff for yourself at his myspace HERE or visit his website HERE

Let me know what y'all think and look forward to 'Bad religion - All Ages' and the 'Van Tramp' gig reviews up sometime tomorrow!

Cheers

TMM