If you are a solo artist rather than a band, you miss one of the best traditions of music. It’s about splitting, waiting a few years, and persistently reforming. The original Sugababes lineup came back and received an ecstatic reception at Glastonbury last weekend, but Paolo Nutini finally settled the difference with himself, it’s all about the song. It is not possible to accurately announce what you have noticed.
But something seems to have happened along those lines. More than eight years have passed since Scottsman’s last album, Caustic Love, and his latest live appearance before this year was a date in South America in 2017. Did he quit altogether? Was it Writer’s Block? Relationship problems? “I couldn’t find a way out of my worries / feelings left behind disappointed me,” he sang in Lose It. At AcidEyes, his favorite person seems to have moved to Mexico.
I don’t really go beyond music. The 35-year-old hasn’t interviewed to promote this fourth album so far. Even his astonishing appearance in Glastonbury took place in a tent so small that he didn’t want anyone to see it.
So far, refusing to play according to the rules of the music industry (albums every few years, lots of smiley radio sessions, social media oversharing) works fine. Caustic Love’s heavier and more serious sound sales declined, yet it doubled its platinum status in the UK. He may have appeared in the waves of a serious male singer-songwriter-James Morrison and Leila Montagne come to mind-and perhaps have been commercially replaced by his acolyte Lewis Capaldi. Make whatever you want.
And that’s what he does. The collection is 72 minutes long and ranges from the exquisite 7-minute dive ballad Take Me Take Mine to the icy propulsion Krautrock of Lose It and the loose pop-punk of Petrified in Love. Heart Filled Up begins as a sparse baseline before stacking instrumentations until Nutini’s fried voice is completely buried and almost inaudible.
He sounds faster and more catchy indie pop and more accessible in Desperation, and the laid-back soul of Through the Echoes and Radio is so high quality that it’s already timeless. Many reasons to thank him for finally coming back with him.
(Atlantic)