A year on from his '21st Century Expose' EP, Horsham's Tim Izzard is back with another EP - 'Deepfake 99' - of enjoyable glam and neo-glam which fans of the thriving glam underground will take to their hearts. The few new-wave and powerpop touches of '21st Century Expose' have largely been discarded on 'Deepfake 99' and the new EP is full-on glam, heavily indebted to Bowie but with nods to Bolan, Mott and Roxy in its six engaging tunes. Totally self-written, recorded, produced and performed by Tim, 'Deepfake 99' is another testament to his undoubted ability as a musician.
Kicking off with an 'oh yeah' and some Bowie-alike 'Oo-oo's, 'Walk The Walk is a fantastic hooky, uplifting start to the EP, it's Bolan boogie verses and Ziggy-era choruses coming complete with rattling piano and strutting ambience which commences 'Deepfake 99' in fine style. 'Press On / Off Here' continues the Bowie influence with its 'Panic In Detroit' styled riffs and 'Aladdin Sane' feel and the two opening tracks are then nicely juxtaposed with the following 'Alice Pearl' - an affecting Mott The Hoople style ballad with fuzzy guitar intermingled with some great piano lines on another variation of the 'Alice In Wonderland' story. The gently pulsing 'Over My Shoulder' tells of the one-on-one meeting between David Bowie and one of Tim's friends with suitable DB references and glistening synth lines, while EP closer, the title track, 'Deepfake 99' stomps (but not in a Slade like way!) to a close with descending guitar lines and a top-notch tune - the highlight of the EP for me. Just time for a bonus track - the acoustic, moody, spacey 'Will The First To Believe, Please Turn On The Lights?' - and another thoroughly enjoyable 20 minutes comes to a close.
Hard-working and committed to his music, Tim Izzard blends his influences with winning songs which shows off his songwriting talents to their full potential and produces releases which require investigation. The proceed of this EP are going to the UNICEF and Red Cross Ukraine Crisis appeals but aside from the good cause, 'Deepfake 99' deserves your time and attention for the great music that is on it.
'Deepfake 99' is out now and available from Tim's Bandcamp page - www.timizzard.bandcamp.com