Unquestionably one of the finest lyricists of his generation, Britain’s Tom McRae has so far failed to reach anything near the level of commercial success his talent deserves. The reason is simple: the vicar’s son doesn’t write happy songs. This, his fourth album, is unlikely to change that scenario, although it does display something of a sea change towards slightly less bleak compositions than the pitch-black lyrical landscape of his previous work: there’s a nugget of hope amid the darkness.
A self-confessed miserablist, an on-form McRae would give Morrissey a run for his money in the downer department. However, like Mozza, there’s an intelligence and savage vein of humour at the core of McRae’s songs which lift them verse-and-chorus above most of his contemporaries. So while we have the two Jameses, Blunt and Morrison, clogging up the airwaves, our hero languishes for the most part in bedsit boutiquery.
Co-produced by McRae himself with Sean Genockey (Manics, Suede), King Of Cards sounds full without being over-fussy, the duo allowing the songs space to breathe and his choirboy-like voice room to soar to the rafters. There’s also a musical shift at play, away from the string-soaked soliloquies of yesteryear and onto a new musical landscape that’s often more immediate, guitar-driven and even ventures into jazz territory on the savage ‘Keep Your Picture Clear’.
Diehard fans will be more than sated by the simple beauty of ‘Houdini And The Girl’, the plaintive plea for help that is ‘On And On’, the hymn-like ‘Lord, How Long?’ and the delicious ‘The Ballad Of Amelia Earhart’, a reference to the pioneering female aviator who disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937, during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe.
Musically, King Of Hearts is a step forward for McRae, while still retaining the quality of songwriting that helps him to stand out from the rest of the troubadour troupe.