Between the dance-inspired stylings of What A Life and the stomp of The Death of You And Me, it is new single If I Had A Gun that is perhaps best representative of Noel Gallagher's solo album as a whole.
Striking out for a beautifully melodic standpoint between his Wonderwall glory days and the most classic, anthemic of choruses, it is a testament to Noel's continuing songwriting talents writ large.
The real charm is that at heart, the song is so simple, so effortless in what it attempts; yet within a few listens it already sounds like something ingrained into your memory for a decade or more. Noel is the eternal everyman, the voice-piece of a nation - just as he was in the 90s, so to now, still plugging away the plight of the normal man. He speaks from the heart, to the heart - and in the slow, methodic strum of If I Had A Gun, he makes that connection every time.
As the tail end of 2011 sweeps round, we can safely say Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds easily has a place within our Top 10 albums of the year; and from an artist with a catalogue already so peerlessly good as Noel/Oasis, that stands as some achievement.
If I Had A Gun... is released on the 26th December accompanied by exclusive b-side I’d Pick You Every Time.
