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Q MagazineSelway understands that he starts with a blank slate and that his extracurricular activity need sound neither drummery nor Radiohead-esque. Instead, he's blessed with a warm and gentle voice, he sings of heart, hearth and on the aching "broken Promises," the death of his mother in 2006. [Sep 2010, p.120]
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UncutThe results, while hardly ground-breaking, are moving and accomplished. [Sep 2010, p.102]
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It's a fine record on its own terms, but the it's just not possible to circumvent the expectations that come with his dayjob.
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His debut reveals a delicate high-tenor voice (akin to Yorke's but less tortured), using acoustic guitars in songs that recall U.K. brooders John Martyn and Nick Drake.
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Familial plays its cards remarkably close to the chest, much like Selway's work in Radiohead. Selway never asks for attention, but still receives it through his remarkable consistency and precision.
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Familial is a worthwhile attempt at the contemporary folk that has been bastardized by many, coddled by some, and ignored by most. In this regard, perhaps Selway has forged an experiment more daring than you might think.
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You get the sense that Familial, with all of its good intentions, might have made a better gift to a girlfriend than a serious petition to come out from behind the kit.
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Some of these songs would spring to life if they were less restrained, and adding a tactful but solid rhythm could be one way to achieve this. As it stands, there is enough here only to convince listeners of Selway's emerging talent as a songwriter if he sticks at it.
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Fans of shivery folk music with subtle plateaus will surely find things to like, but the rest of you might find yourselves wishing the "black dog" in Selway's basement had a bit more bite. At least he let it outside.
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Selway sounds like a space-age Badly Drawn Boy, only less lovable. His melodies are simplistic, his lyrics amateurish. If he weren't in the band, it'd be easy to write him off as a Radiohead rip-off.