As well as being one of the best album covers I’ve seen all year, the artwork that accompanies The Evolution Of Man, the loftily-titled fourth LP from Brit hit-maker Example, tells us quite a lot about the music therein.
For a start, it looks like something Oasis or Red Hot Chili Peppers might have put out in the late ‘90s, hinting that, for the first time on an Example record, guitars might play a significant role. The artwork, which shows a picture of a rejoicing boy strategically placed atop a frenzied V Festival crowd, also suggests that, after years of experimentation, Elliot Gleave has finally discovered how to make music that people love. As a razor-tongued rapper, Example peaked at 125 in the UK album charts. As a moody electro-house star, he soared to number one. With The Evolution Of Man, he can do whatever he pleases, and in his own words, what he pleases is “guitar music, produced electronically.”
Setting the scene for an album full of surprises, Skittles-referencing opener ‘Come Taste The Rainbow’ kicks off with some grinding, howling riffs, before Example’s nonchalant vocal collapses into the kind of supersonic rap we haven’t heard from him in five years. Thanks to some distorted guitars, ‘Crying Out For Help’ borders on glam metal, all that showy fretwork fitting in beautifully in with the alarming, floor-filling beats we’re more accustomed to hearing from the 30-year-old musician. Skream collaboration ‘Are You Sitting Comfortably?’ is another example of the terrific things that can happen when hard-edged rock riffs meet dizzying electronica.
Towards the middle, things take an unexpectedly bouncy turn. ‘Queen Of Your Dreams’ could be One Direction’s next hit if you simply replaced the vocal, and the record’s sweetly uplifting title track debuts Example’s indisputable talent for penning bubblegum pop melodies.
In contrast, ‘All My Lows’ is almost painfully honest, while ‘Blood From A Stone’ is about as dark as floor-filling mongrel rocktronica gets. ‘Perfect Replacement’, an all-out club stomper adds to the confusion, and there’s the odd lyrical nugget (“I love success,” he brilliantly puffs, “but I didn’t find success in love”).
Listening to this frightfully inconsistent 12-tracker, it still doesn’t feel like Elliot Gleave has arrived at a definitive sound. But here’s what’s really important; with four wildly diverging albums under his belt, Example is never less than fascinating.