David Candy

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David Candy is a pseudonym used by American musician Ian Svenonius for a one-off studio project whose only release was the 2001 album Play Power . The character was created in collaboration with British producer Mike Alway as part of a series of "magazine-style records" that also included fictional or semi-fictional acts such as Death by Chocolate, Maria Napoleon, Mild Euphoria and Lollipop Train. [1] [2]

Contents

Concept and persona

Under the David Candy name, Svenonius adopted a deliberately stylised persona drawing on 1960s pop culture, self-help rhetoric and spoken-word performance. Label publicity described David Candy as an invented figure within Alway's "magazine-style" concept, which paired imaginary frontpersons with carefully curated retro-influenced music and artwork. [1] Contemporary reviewers characterised Candy as a knowingly affected or ironic figure, likening the persona to a 1960s-style self-help guru or would-be cult leader and emphasising its tongue-in-cheek quality. [3] [4]

Writers have also highlighted the project's use of parody and pastiche. Reviews noted Candy's long spoken monologues and diary-style texts, and questioned whether they should be read as sincere or as a satire of self-consciously literary youth culture. [5] [6]

Play Power

Play Power
David Candy.gif
Studio album by
David Candy
Released2001 [7]
Length40:50 [8]
Label Jetset Records
Siesta Records
If Records [9]
Producer Jez Butler
John Austin [9]

Play Power is the only album released under the name David Candy. It was issued in 2001 by Jetset Records in the United States and through Siesta and If Records in Europe. [7] [9] The record forms part of Mike Alway's series of "magazine-style records", which presented conceptual projects combining retro-pop arrangements, elaborate packaging and invented artist biographies. [1] [2]

Three of the tracks, "Listen to the Music", "Bad Bad Boy" and "Lullaby from Rosemary's Baby", are cover versions of songs from film soundtracks. [10] "Listen to the Music" is drawn from the 1968 teen satire Wild in the Streets , "Bad Bad Boy" originates in the 1967 British film Privilege, and "Lullaby from Rosemary's Baby" is taken from Roman Polanski's film Rosemary's Baby . [10]

The remaining pieces are original compositions credited to Svenonius and collaborators Jez Butler, John Austin and Matt Hulse, who arranged and performed the music. [9]

Music and lyrics

Commentators generally describe Play Power as drawing heavily on 1960s pop and psychedelic arrangements, with organ, guitar and lounge-style instrumentation. [7] [11] Reviews often note the contrast between the retro musical backing and Svenonius's largely spoken vocal delivery, which has been compared to beat-style poetry and extended monologues. [10] [6]

Lyrically, the album ranges across subjects including historical materialism, avant-garde art movements such as Suprematism, and urban life in São Paulo, Brazil, alongside more personal or diaristic passages. [10] Critics have variously interpreted this material as both sincere and satirical, reading the record as a play on intellectualised youth culture and 1960s countercultural clichés. [5] [4] [3]

Reception

Play Power attracted a modest but favourable response from sections of the music press. Reviews highlighted the album's use of 1960s-style lounge and pop influences and its conceptual framing. NME described the project as an opportunity for Svenonius to exchange his previous gospel-influenced work for "billowy" 1960s-flavoured pop and treated the record as a semi-comic experiment. [11] Other critics emphasised the album's mixture of parody and homage, noting both its playful tone and its dense spoken-word passages. [7] [4] [6]

Track listing

Track titles and sequence follow a standard CD edition of the album. [7] [9]

  1. "Playpower (David Candy Theme)"
  2. "Incomprehensibly Yours"
  3. "Listen to the Music"
  4. "Redfuchsiatamborine&gravel"
  5. "Bad Bad Boy"
  6. "Diary of a Genius"
  7. "Lullaby from Rosemary's Baby"

Personnel

Adapted from label and discographical sources. [9] [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "David Candy – Jetset Records". Jetset Records. Archived from the original on 19 August 2003. Retrieved 30 December 2006.
  2. 1 2 "The Make-Up's Ian Svenonius Stars as David Candy". ABC News. 24 May 2001. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  3. 1 2 Sterdan, Darryl (7 September 2021). "Classic Album Review: David Candy – Play Power". Tinnitist. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 Marburger, Lex (February 2002). "David Candy – Play Power". Lollipop Magazine. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  5. 1 2 "David Candy – Play Power". Pennyblackmusic. 17 December 2001. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 "David Candy – Play Power". Exclaim!. 2001. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Play Power by David Candy (Ian Svenonius)". Alltime Records. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  8. ↑ "Play Power – David Candy". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "David Candy – Play Power". Discogs. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Ashlock, Jesse. "David Candy". Epitonic Records. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2007.
  11. 1 2 "David Candy – Play Power". NME. 12 September 2005. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
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