Gotye - Easy Way Out

It’s difficult to use the word funk in 2011, unless harking back to the 70s, without sounding like a complete and utter prat. Try it. That song was funky. Wow, you are so funky. I am hella’ funky. It just feels very, very wrong. Regardless of losing my status as a respected critic (or something thereabouts), Gotye, the Australian pop multi-instrumentalist has something resembling funk.

He manages to tap into a primal pop funk in the most exquisite of ways, with tracks such as ‘Learnalilgivinanlovin’ and ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ summoning an almighty addictive presence, flecked with vocals that sound a little like Sting with more of a bounce in his step. His latest single, ‘Easy Way Out’, roars into existence with driving riffs, rocketing towards Gotye musing ‘Putting on a brave face, trying not to listen to the voices in the back of my head’. The verses stroll along somewhat delicately before the charging, muttering grit returns in the chorus, as a deliciously breathy, falsetto voice exhales forth.

The single splutters out in less than two minutes, with the sound of a slowing record indicating the sudden end. The surprising brevity feels forced, with seemingly plenty more space for the song to grow, as if Gotye had simply run out of ideas halfway through a damn decent pop track. That grain of funk still bellows louder than most white boys in 2011, though, and I fear we may only be on the early rungs of his poptastic career climb.