As you've never been serenaded with Dry Your Eyes maybe Mrs Daze could do it in the authentic accent? :-)
I'm sure you're right about his accent being developed a bit though. In this case I don't think it's part of the character he's created, because it's pretty much the same on other albums and when he's interviewed but it is a slightly weird hybrid.
You have got me thinking about this though. Somewhere over the years I've developed a real preference for people singing not only in their natural accents and voices but I will even happily tolerate a slightly exaggerated version too in preference to that generic transatlantic delivery.
There is actually a potentially good playlist theme in this!
I seem to have accepted I am now reviewing this album in chapters, as opposed to in one post, so might as well say shit as and when ready and when relevant. And I'll do a bit of a Fog here and go on a massive tangent on something potentially completely unrelated, and you just have to read on to see if it might maybe at some point come back to refer to the album at hand. Might do, maybe not.
We have actually already had this discussion a couple times, so I won't repeat myself. But the short of it for me has always been that there is a fine line between 'not hiding your accent', and exaggerating the shit out of it as a cheap gimmick. Something a whole wave of Scottish bands were guilty of in the 2010s decade, in an attemmpt to emulate the success of a couple bands that did it well with a lot more subtlety. It got right on my tits, and put me off a few otherwise really good bands. Basically, I quite like an authentic accent, fucking hate an act.
That said, I have recently managed to conquer probably the greatest offender and my long term nemesis, the Twilight Sad. For ages people have been pushing me to persevere with them, as it should on paper be something I like. It just wasn't happening. One of the reasons, was his over the top accent. I mean, nobody in Scotland actually fucking speaks like that, not even Gerrard Butler when putting on a shit holywood scotsman.
Recently, something seems to have clicked. He seems to be using it as more of a musical effect, than a social/cultural stunt. Those rolling Rrrs that grated on me for so long are almost like an additional backing instrument, and there is a bit of thought behind their placement. Now that I can treat it as that, I am finding I can focus on their actual music a lot more.
Which, back to the topic, I think in some ways is what Mike does. With the accent to a lesser degree, but more obviously with his prosody. And maybe a touch with his deliberate lack of intonation.
First couple of listens, his stop start broken up rhyming was quite jarring, almost robotic at times. It was distracting, it was arguably covering up weaknesses of rapping or lack of power of voice. But the more I listened to it, the more it started to look like a deliberate musical effect. To some extent, makes it sound a bit of a clumsy reciting of poetry, over a track (hello Van Morrision). But what it also does, it simplifies the shit out of it, and as the whole idea behind this is 'relatability', it does make those simplistic stories that many can nod along to, that little bit more relatable and common sounding. Not that it makes me like it any more to actually listen to, but gives me something to appreciate with more to it below the surface.
Edit; on the subject of relatability, worth pointing out how almost 20 years later, the themes on this album still feel as relatable and as relevant as they did then, even with the noticeable changes to the world and society over that period.
