There's just over a week to go to submit entries in the contest to remix "Beyond Reason" off Philip Selway's solo debut Familial. Rolling Stone, in its album review, writes, "News flash: Radiohead officially have another songwriter." The Wall Street Journal takes a look at Selway's dual roles as Radiohead drummer and singer-songwriter and says: "The thoughtful 43-year-old has a way of making the unexpected decision seem just right ... Selway's compositions echo elements of Radiohead, but their themes tell us they are his own."
The Philip Selway remix contest is in full swing at Indaba Music, with a little more than a week to go to submit entries before the Thursday, October 14. That's when the voting period begins and fans can choose their favorite remix of the song "Beyond Reason," off Selway's solo debut album, Familial. Rolling Stone, in its review of the album, says, "News flash: Radiohead officially have another songwriter."
The Wall Street Journal takes a look at Selway's roles both as Radiohead's drummer and also as a singer-songwriter in his own right.
"The thoughtful 43-year-old has a way of making the unexpected decision seem just right," Journal music critic Jim Fusilli says of Selway's work with Radiohead. "And so it is with his debut solo album, Familial (Nonesuch), a muted, stripped-down disc that limits percussion to simple rhythms and swooshy loops. Mr. Selway's whisper-like singing is its centerpiece, and his acoustic guitar is augmented by unobtrusive performances by Lisa Germano, Sebastian Steinberg, and Wilco's Glenn Kotche and Patrick Sansone."
Fusilli goes on to find a certain commonality between the two spheres of the musician's life, however different they may be. "Mr. Selway's compositions echo elements of Radiohead, but their themes tell us they are his own," Fusilli writes. "If we insist on a comparison to what Mr. Selway refers to as his 'day job,' we'll find it in the unity and thoroughness of his solo effort. But the predecessors of Familial are the somber, introspective songs of Nick Drake and others on Britain's late '60s folk scene."
Read the complete article, include Selway's own thoughts on the comparison, at wsj.com.
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Selway also spoke with The Quietus about the new record, which the site's Ben Hewitt describes as "a highly personal record that encompasses themes of family and friendship, love and loss, and life and death. Musically, too, it's intimate and delicate, with Selway's voice often no more than a gentle whisper above fragile melodies and gentle arrangements." You'll find the interview at thequietus.com.
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The New Zealand Herald gives Familial four stars. On the new album, Selway "confounds expectation, as his band always has," says reviewer Graham Reid, making "for an album that really is quite something." Read the review at nzherald.co.nz.
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You can also hear directly from Selway in a video interview he gave to the Associated Press. In a newly published AP video, featuring clips from Familial and from Radiohead's catalog, the interview focuses on the bond Selway has with band mates. You can watch it here:
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