Tender, strange, eclectic, Kurt Wagner returns with a 16th album a long way from those earlier heady day releases of of Americana and alt-country, but one filled with fascinating oddities, reflections on mortality, with fusions of jazz, electronica, soul, classical and modulated sounds and voices. Opener His Song Is Sung pulls us in many directions, beginning with beautiful sweeping strings and rippling piano, then brass, as if some old movie is opening out but with reflective lyrics: “I confess I have no purpose / I'm not complaining / Now these days are measured by the number/ Thirty summers from today …. And my song is sung … And it gets edgier with time.” Wagner’s work is utterly unpredictable. Next track Little Black Boxes has a club beat along funky bass and brass, and he brings in oddball Auto-Tune. During the quiet piano track Daisy, a sudden ‘Hey!’ jumps out of nowhere. Whatever, Mortal has gorgeous upright bass, piano, guitar jazz and backing singers. A Major Minor Drag returns to voice modulation with shades of Laurie Anderson’s O Superman, but with added bells and strings. Every Child Begins the World Again has something of the slower piano work of Nick Cave. A key standout, Police Dog Blues, begins with maze of interweaving electronica, surrounding Wagner’s dominantly deep voice and funk-jazz bass, rock guitar and a gospel-soul backing, all of which builds and bubbles sublimely. Dylan At The Mousetrap has echoes of country with sliding steel guitar coming together with brass. Closing track That’s Music swelling romantically with deep-voiced melancholy, refers to the gold medal-winning athlete Tommie Smith, who raised a Black power fist at the 1968 Olympics. Overall, an extraordinary collection of 10 indefinable songs, hard to grasp at first, but rewarding on extra listens as those strangely profound, lyrics gradually seep in. Out on City Slang/Merge Records.
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