Family Portraits – (Volume VI) – Reciprocity Nexus (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

They say to write about what you know—sound advice and something Reciprocity Nexus takes to heart. Plenty of artists have offered us songs filled with vivid imagination and flights of fancy, but do we need any more songs about Tolkien-esque quests and sci-fi-inspired sonics? I think not, and it seems neither does Reciprocity Nexus. As the name of the album suggests, his focus is on looking at the thoughts and feelings, issues and concerns of things closer to home, and indeed in the home itself. So here we find the fourth instalment of songs that take the form of, in his words, “Wry observational vignettes from the vagaries of life. Music for grown-ups by grown-ups.”

Family Portraits is the most mature of indie-pop music, a set of songs that are personal and intimate, scenes and scenarios inspired by his own life and the people in it, yet delivered in such a way that we can all see ourselves in them, we can all relate to the story that is laid before us.

Hiding In Plain Sight lays out the sonic stall brilliantly, a deftly woven thread of skittering beats and spiralling guitar lines, pop at its most accessible but also its most adult, laying out real-life stories and kitchen sink dramas in the way that masters of the art, Chris Difford and Glen Tilbruck did so brilliantly with their early Squeeze compositions.

But, I’m not saying that Hendrik “Henk” Kleinsmiede, the man behind the musical moniker, is trying to sound like them; it’s just that there is the same taste of real life to be found here, the same feeling of reality laid bare, of vulnerability, honesty and authenticity, the same brilliant observational skills at work, the same wit and wisdom, though here delivered straighter and less for laughs.

Nine Lives is a chiming, and indeed charming, pop ballad. Deus Ex Machina is built on sparse and spacious snake-like electric guitar lines and shimmering textures, allowing the light to get in and the song to breathe, somehow adding to the pathos and poignancy. It takes a talented artist to work Latin into a pop song and make it sound like the most natural thing in the world.

All’s Well That Ends Well runs along with an Americana-infused twang; the Odd Couple celebrates our differences and the attraction of opposites and is the sound of what chart music should sound like today, had the fickle music-buying public brought The The albums in more significant numbers rather than falling for the glamour and glitz of the likes of Duran Duran’s pop schtick!

Reciprocity Nexus is everything popular music needs right now. Well-turned, relatable and accessible music with depth. Music that has something to say. Music reflecting the world we live in and talks about the human condition. The charts are full of teenage pop wannabes still rhyming June with moon and having nothing to offer apart from that blank stare in their eyes that screams, “I’ll do anything to be famous,” Reciprocity Nexus provides a real alternative. Music with meaning. When was the last time you stumbled on something like that in the mainstream? Not for a long time, I’ll wager.