As the last member of One Direction to issue a debut studio album, the weight of expectation was on Louis Tomlinson to deliver a strong solo record, but I think he succeeded.
Tomlinson, 28, has clearly taken time to develop his musical style and sound to differentiate himself from his contemporaries (though there are still some songs resembling his work with 1D sonically), which resulted in much of the record taking on a throwback indie rock sound that feels very welcoming in an era of production-heavy pop and rap singles dominating the charts. It provides a sense of honesty and realism which immediately endears the listener to Louis’ music.
You can definitely hear the influence of Britpop giants like Oasis in songs such as “We Made It” both in terms of vocal style and guitar-laden instrumentation. While this does lead the album to feel less current the organic vibe of the tracklist renders the overall listening experience positive for me.
Though Tomlinson was never the most famous member of his group, he comes into his own on Walls, with many tracks that could be considered highlights: the opening track “Kill My Mind” is a glorious blast of guitar-laden pop rock with vocals that suggest a true sense of realised confidence; “Two of Us” is a sombre and sobering ode to Tomlinson’s late mother, who died from leukaemia in 2016, that features some truly devastating lyricism that allow Tomlinson to vocally and sonically command the listener’s attention, delivering a rousing emotional ballad that is impossible to ignore; the titular song “Walls” is a personal favourite, with its eclectic chorus and relatable songwriting about past relationships accompanied by echoingly powerful vocal to drive the messages home; the closing track “Only the Brave” is an interlude-length, rough-around-the-edges track in abundance of slick metaphor and emphatic guitar.
Despite there being numerous standout tracks, due to the similarity in the acoustics of the LP many of the songs feel unremarkable and nondistinctive. Tomlinson has tried to embrace an edgier musical style with consistently satisfying vocals but compared to his former bandmates’ outputs it feels as though he has struggled to shrug off the shadows of his boyband past and become artistically independent. In the future I want to see him take more risks as there are many male artists’ discographies that I could liken the Walls album to – particularly the likes of Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes, both of whom have been criticised for seriously lacking in artistic growth.
In my opinion, Louis named his debut record after his best song on the album, but it is one of the few that doesn’t blend into the background of forgettability. He clearly has potential, but he needs to make better use of it in future projects; while I am glad his LP has consistency in drives in terms of production, vocals and lyricism, there is almost too much to be able to clearly define each track and how it differs to the ones before and after it. I spent much of the forty-minute record underwhelmed, though I would admittedly struggle to find a ‘bad’ song as all range from mediocre to solid (even if most lie towards the former end of the spectrum).
All in all, Walls is a good album and Tomlinson has a good base to develop his artistry from with it, but as a standalone project the relative lack of growth from his time in One Direction to now is obvious and a little disappointing.
6.5/10
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