Indie Music Album Reviews - Insight & Critique

Chris Soames - Trip Inside

7/26/2016

Chris Soames

Trip Inside
self-released; 2016

3.5 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Chris Soames is a singer-songwriter, keyboardist and guitarist from Manchester, UK who recently released Trip Inside. He has been playing live since 2008 building up a lot of experience before releasing his solo album Trip Inside.

Soames flirts with a number of different genres but it all falls into the pop category. That being said it doesn’t necessarily sound like pop from 2016. There certainly seems to be a lot of influence from the ’90s as well as the ’80s.

Production-wise the album sounds great although I was questioning the quite liberal use of auto-tune. Soames implements the effect quite often and it’s not always subtle. It’s an aesthetic choice but I would have preferred to hear a little less at times.

He opens with “Sun In Squares” which is a funky rock song. It’s catchy and a good opener. The mood is upbeat and lively. I was a little surprised that he followed that up with the melancholy ballad “Whispers In Paris.” There is a distinct ’80s vibe that is not too far off from Richard Marx.

Speaking of other decades Soames pulls off an old classic guitar solo on “Trip Inside” as well as the famous talking guitar effect made popular by Peter Frampton. “Fly” is a highlight amongst the batch. The song is hopeful, optimistic and certainly does have a feeling of flying. He sings, “Walking down this lonely road one day / We’ll spread our wings and fly away from this place. /Hand in hand we'll go where the wind only blows. / Never wondering what we might have left back home.”

“Save Me” is a straight up rock/pop song while “Miss You So” is actually one of the more upbeat, lively songs on the album.

Trip Inside isn’t exactly an album that will have an easy time finding its way into the underground but it will be appreciated by an audience who has a penchant for pop music. Take a listen and see if it's your cup of tea.