Droll, dark, crisply phrased, downbeat, self-deprecating, sleazy and funky? It can only be the West London artist, in a candid, unflinching sixth solo album that draws on his strange childhood as son of famous Ian, echoing his brilliantly funny and painful 2022 memoir Chaise Longue. It’s packed with slick grooves and that deep, mischievously throwaway delivery, and touches on all sorts of scrapes, in a life over exposed to rock’n’roll at an early age, though often absent father and a giant drug-taking minder. With standout tracks, Leon about how his “horrible” class mate and I stole sunglasses from Boots on Kensington High Street in the mid 80s, and after being arrested and locked in a cell, “Why am I condemned because I’m the son of a musician?” he utters, and the reply: “I’m afraid we cannot contact your parents”. Other colourfully entertaining and poetic numbers include Aylesbury Boy, Celebrate Me with its oddball distorted backing vocal chorus, the harmonising intro on Shadow, Crowded Rooms, and the strangely lovely acoustic closing track, Glows. Produced by Paul White, it’s an absorbingly melancholy, but amusingly moving and sensitive release. Out on Heavenly Recordings / PIAS.
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