Clothing
Music
The
Bakarra Men’s
Beret
Ben Ottewell
Shapes and
Shadows Words: Paul Scott
C
ornwall historically has more in common with the Breton area of north-west France than any other French region or département. That is about to change. Arriving from the Basque region of France is the ‘Bakarra’ style beret. Made from 100% wool it will undoubtedly keep your head immune to those often cruel winds that whip up off the Atlantic ocean, across Cornwall, and into the face of every Cornishman, but that’s not all. The Bakarra is sexy, there’s no two ways about it. Water-resistant, satin-lined and beautifully felted the Bakarra is more than just the ghost of an age old stereotype. There are no strings of onions here, this is fashion, and it should be a Cornish fashion. Striped t-shirts are in, we have Cornish Brie by the tractor load, and we’re not too keen on the English. Now we also have the potential of being beret wearing CornishFrench comrades, as the most famous beret wearer of them all, Che Guevara once said, “use una boina mis amigos de Cornualles!” Which of course roughly translates as: “wear a beret my Cornish friends!” Who are we to argue?
The Bakarra, and other berets are available from Ropeysoles +44(0)1935 813 761
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Words: Paul Scott
W
hen Gomez burst onto the music scene in 1996 with the Mercury award winning, Bring It On it was the distinctive gruff vocals of Ben Ottewell on the opening track Get Miles that set the tone for one of the best albums of the 90s. Fifteen years on and Ottewell launches his first solo effort, Shapes and Shadows. Ottewell’s voice is scratchy, gravely, the raw roots-and-blues of which are better suited to a Jack Daniels swilling, chainsmoking American from the deep south, instead of a bespectacled geography teacher look-a-like from Southport. Ottewell’s unusual vocals should have brought him far more success, but like the underachieving Gomez, he and the band have found it difficult to match Bring It On. Sadly that scenario does not change with Shapes and Shadows. The opening track, taking the same name as the album, is pleasant at best. Ottewell’s normally harsh vocals are tamed, an approach that may alienate loyal Gomez fans accustomed to the coarseness of a man sounding badly in need of some stepsils. Lightbulbs includes terminology more familiar to a brain surgeon, ‘Corpus callosom get on fire,’ sings Ottewell. He delivers them in such an honest, believing manner that he almost gets away with it. It’s only when you find yourself Googling the meaning that you realise that lyrics like this are not
normal at all, and are frankly out of place. Blackbird is a strange concoction, a mixture of folk, acoustic guitar and soft-rock. It’s a formula that does not quite work. Again, Ottewell’s voice sounds restrained, almost as if it is on its best behaviour, trying too hard to make a good impression as opposed to saying what it wants to say, in a manner in which it wants to say it. On the verge of dismissing Shapes and Shadows as a misguided attempt at a strike for freedom from the confines of Gomez, Ottewell goes some way to redeem himself. Chicago is simply beautiful, again the folk-soft rock combination is employed, but to far better effect. It is a song of sadness and solitude, ‘keep the dream like a figurine threatening to break,’ sings Ottewell. The remainder of the album is a rather peculiar affair meandering back and forth from early Gomez-esque tragedy, like the devastatingly sad Chose to upbeat tracks swamped in blandness like the irritating Step Right Back. The album’s final, and standout track is Take This Beach. Stripped of all the higher tempo nonsense of some of the earlier tracks, Take This Beach is a dismaying example of what might have been. Frustratingly, Shapes and Shadows is an album without identity, and to end it all with a track fitting of any Gomez album seems like a wasted journey.
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