ALBUM REVIEW: Beautiful Dangerous – Heart of Gold

Michael McGough grew up between two households. His mother introduced him to pop and RnB music, whilst his father introduced him to rock and roll. It would soon turn out that these two music introductions would be extremely important later in life. He’s best known for being the vocalist in post-hardcore band BEING AS AN OCEAN; however, he’s now branching out into his own project called HEART OF GOLD. Beautiful Dangerous is the debut album, and goes into a notable synth pop direction.

To The Blue starts off with a calming introduction before launching into a synth song. Although it is a far cry from any BEING AS AN OCEAN song, it is a fun track that showcases HEART OF GOLD‘s talent for songwriting. Furthermore, whilst synths might be the main instrument, there are guitars and drums thrown into the mix.

Headache follows on, and is focused more on those instruments rather than synths, therefore leaning into a pop-rock sound. As the album progresses, each song flirts perfectly between synth pop and pop-rock. This not only helps the album’s pacing, but also shows that there is no such thing as genre because all the songs fit into more than one. Furthermore, this album proves that McGough‘s early exposure to different music genres was key to this album. It is clear that HEART OF GOLD has taken both of his parents’ favourite genres and mixed them together into a well-crafted album.

However, whilst the songs are well-crafted, they do have a tendency to fall into mediocrity after a while. For example, Bright Lights is a dull and uninspired song that sounds a little too much like THE 1975. Furthermore, whilst the interludes are fun, they do seem a little unnecessary.

However, there are highlights such as Leave Just Yet – an upbeat pop-rock song – and September Sunburn – a pop-rock song that incorporates synths. Unfortunately, the rest of the album doesn’t quite add up to the highlights. Of course, this is the debut of the solo project, so it’s fair enough that it has a bit of a rocky start because the sound has not been perfected yet. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean that there is not a definitive sound. Beautiful Dangerous sits comfortably in the pop-rock and synth pop world. To have a definitive sound on your debut album is an achievement in itself. Most musicians are still finding themselves on their debut.

Ultimately then, Beautiful Dangerous is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it has a definitive sound, and is well-produced. However, some of the songs are dull and uninspired, which makes the album seem a little rushed. Furthermore, whilst the interludes are nice, they do not really contribute anything to the album, and therefore feel a little bit redundant. On the other hand, there are highlights on the album which make up for the unnecessary interludes. Beautiful Dangerous by HEART OF GOLD has something for everyone, it just doesn’t always hit the right notes.

Rating: 6/10

Beautiful Dangerous is set for release on August 12th via SharpTone Records.

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