There’s a late night easy listening vibe that permeates Designs In Music. It’s an album that could have been made forty years ago. It’s like one of those big easy listening orchestras, your James Last, Percy Faith, or perhaps even closer to the money Henry Mancini, who’s presence here is impossible to deny. Perhaps too because Ben Vaughn himself composes for TV and film, having scored TV shows like 3rd Rock From the Sun and That 70’s Show. Yet he’s also produced Ween and collaborated with Alan Vega (Suicide) and Alex Chilton (Big Star), so there’s some diversity to his oeuvre. So Designs In Music, wholly instrumental reads like the imaginary soundtrack to a smooth late 60’s film, whilst there’s a controlled psychedelia to some of the pieces, he’s also not afraid to get a little quirky with the instrumentation, touching on south of the border Tijunana Brass, even the twang of desert guitars where he sounds like a well produced cleaned up Morricone western soundtrack. It’s like he’s seducing Morricone into easy listening territory, which in theory sounds like sacrilege – yet actually works. It’s at these moments where it feels somewhat like a homage to some of the heroes, a slight tip of the hat as he glides suavely past. The best track on this album Too Happy actually has a professional whistler who solos over a vibraphone and brushes, then in comes some funky organ, honky tonk piano, then out of nowhere these lush female backing vocals (alright it’s not wholly instrumental), which then make way for a restrained sax solo. That’s also the key to Vaughn, things keep moving and evolving, smooth laid-back, yet somehow alter dramatically despite the fact that you’re clicking your fingers and feeling slightly dapper. This music is the equivalent of a smoking jacket and pipe.
Bob Baker Fish
