The album is certainly imaginative, if not entirely coherent, and this is perhaps what makes the band a unique presence.
Overall, the wheel-reinvention bit is largely irrelevant. What’s important in keeping this album’s head above water is that it still sounds like a rickety little adventure.
The essence of what makes him unique and special remains, only the production values have crept up a notch.
Overall, Songs For Imaginative People gives us a darker shade of Darwin, which results in something that is less commercial and radio-friendly than his debut, but who gives a fuck about that?
A lucid collection of stories and themes with layers and perceptible depth; produced and crafted unlike the primitive sounds of the debut which was largely single-paced with many songs sharing similar tempos.
‘Songs For Imaginative People’, the second Darwin Deez record, is a natural progression from the first, as the band’s distinctively jangly, incessantly upbeat guitars are remodelled in increasingly eccentric ways.
Smith hasn't yet got the creative or musical chops to make a capital-A album, and completely shunning his naturally artless expression isn't the way to get there.
It's a baffling shame this group didn't lift off after their underrated hit that was their self-titled. This album, Songs for Imaginative People, decides to steer clear into a separate route of pop music, completely unapologetic with it's spacey, dancy, and infectious all around. Not the exact sounds we heard from their debut, but all the less the same and just as intriguing.
He is trying too hard to stop what he does best. That is being the youthful, sincere, awkward artist that he is. The lyrics and music don't hit as well as his debut. Darwin however is a really great dude.