Following his appearance on reality TV fluff The Voice, teenager Lakyn has opted to peddle a style reminiscent of Ed Sheeran and 70s album-orientated rock.
On the show, Lakyn was bolstered by the standard back story – he took on singing duties after injuring himself during a kick-flip – and looks that make 14-year-old girls graffiti their textbooks with decelerations of love. It took him to the upper reaches of the contest; a considerable effort in any context.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing on his debut EP to warrant him being given any more than those initial 15 minutes of fame.
Those who have succeeded post-reality TV have managed to assess their opportunities and reengineer their talents into a specific niche. Matt Corby delved into deep singer-songwriter territory; Lisa Mitchell became an indie sweetheart; Guy Sebastian beefed up into an elevator music specialist who occasionally enlists the services of a US rapper to keep up the ‘cred’.
It’s tough to see where Lakyn’s individuality is. For the most part his debut is pleasant enough, though the tender nylon picking and gentle backbeats form nothing we haven’t heard before.
The EP’s best track, ‘Better Than That’, is bolstered by a shimmering note-bend that provides some character amongst the standard arpeggio work.
This is quickly cancelled-out by a cover of Cutting Edge’s ‘(I Just) Died In Your Arms’ that adds very little value to neither Lakyn nor the song itself.
To his credit, Lakyn has gone against type and not succumbed to creating fodder for pre-pubescent girls (even though that may be his best chance for further mainstream success). He hasn’t used his looks as an anchor and – unlike many of his other reality TV contemporaries – has a major hand in the structure and development of his material.
The issue is that there’s no point of uniqueness within his brand of sensitive acoustic folk-pop that will rise above an already saturated market.
