As its beautiful loser-ish title suggests, Richard Hawley’s sixth studio album is quite a romanticised, sombre affair. The cultish Sheffield singer – best known for his associations with Pulp, Elbow and Arctic Monkeys – croons soulfully through eight tracks of love, loss and regret, but the lyrical rawness is generally soothed by some smooth musicianship.
Along with C&W style twanging guitars, the album features some unusual instrumentation, such as the waterphone, megabass and cristal baschet – used to particularly great ambient effect on the 10-minute ‘Remorse Code’ (great title!). For the most part it’s quiet and reflective, but ‘Soldier On’ blows up into a monster, before kissing you off with, ‘Never say goodbye/ You’re the apple of my eye’. Other tracks like ‘Don’t Get Hung Up In Your Soul’ are more like kindly words of advice from the wise to the world-weary.
I can’t see this being Hawley’s commercial breakthrough, but it’s a truly special record – sad and sorrowful, but with heart-warming bursts of joy and optimism. Hawley might be lying in Truelove’s Gutter, but he’s still gazing wistfully at the stars.