Absolute simplicity forms Noel Gallagher’s latest track, with his High Flying Birds dragged along for the ride on Easy Now. Ahead of the release of Council Skies, the real beauty comes from the album title. Heavy heads, hollow crowns, Easy Now, the latest single to promote the album, is a fine track with some solid sentiments, drowned out by production woes. Far stronger than the banalities and dullness of the Johnny Marr-featuring Pretty Boy from last year. Still, improving on that is easygoing for Gallagher here, with Easy Now an absolutely passable track that does exactly what it is expected to do. A brief guitar solo here, a hefty dose of string sections there, and a completely forgettable experience on the whole.
At least the forgettable notion that lingers on Easy Now is marked by consistency in the fundamental Gallagher stylings and the playing that fits into the track. Gallagher provides a song that utilises his vocal strengths far better than most of his releases so far, although the context of the lyrics is not the most inspired. Easy Now feels personal at least, and for Gallagher to put that much on the line is at least interesting the first time through. This is not the first time through, though. His lack of real, committed writing comes at a cost. It is not slowly walking down a hall at a speed faster than that of a cannonball, but it still lacks some real clarity or definitive interest.
Very simple rhyming structures are implemented instead, bringing out a complete yet simple access to the areas of youth no doubt charted elsewhere on Council Skies. “Above the cities and towns where people fly upon the ground” is as empty a statement as it gets for Gallagher here, although the overdose of string quartets is more than enough to distract from lyrical flab. Not bad work for a man that said reading fiction is “a waste of fucking time”. At its core, there is a wholesome note of preparing for the future and not worrying about it until it is there and present, but the simplicity of which Gallagher is a clear fan, does not have the effect of smart wordplay or stunning arrangement. It is a fine track, but it could be far, far stronger with a bit of eagerness, a bit of charm, to the lyrics lingering throughout this track. That has been the trouble for Gallagher’s lyrics for some time now.
Still, it is a fine single. It will engage the fans that want to hear more from the High Flying Birds, which, if Gallagher’s comments at Glastonbury are anything to go by, is not a large crowd. Easy Now is as the title promises. Easy to get into, present in the now, and easy to forget. There is nothing to truly define it as a defiant single or a release that will send shockwaves, but Gallagher and his High Flying Birds do not appear all that interested in doing so. Utterly, utterly fine, although it pales in comparison to the other Britpop legends releasing, touring and creating this calendar year. Gallagher is behind the times once more, playing catch-up to bands and artists that covered this field of personal walks among the streets and crowds 30 years ago. Done better, elsewhere, before.
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