Since their reappearance in 2012 they’ve been called Dexys but for their seventh and, possibly, final album, they return to the name of their 1980s glory years: Dexys Midnight Runners. Head honcho Kevin Rowland has travelled an idiosyncratic path, which is what artists should do. Unfortunately, the seam he mines here proves tricky to love.
Produced by Belfast DJ-musician David Holmes, these ten songs are laced with melancholy and wistfulness, as Rowland looks back on his life. As the album title suggests, this often means reflecting on affairs of the heart.
With its strings, slowies and lush M.O.R production, the music sometimes achieves the emotional impact it aims for. “Old Love”, delivered in an autumnal Iggy Pop croon, is a melancholic piano-led piece mourning the invisibility of age, “Once a Man and Twice a Child” is a straight-talking ode to healing a relationship with a once hard-nosed father at the end of his days, and “It’s Over Now” is a bubbly duet riding Northern Soul drums, featuring the kind of catchy chorus Dexys once majored in.
Outside these songs, and despite the final track calling for Britain to rise up in revolution in protest at these depressing times, LOVE does not drag the listener in, a feat Rowland usually manages, however unlikely the material. His gulp-swallowing singing has always been an acquired taste, which is part of its appeal, but here it often jars. The lyrics clunk, and the vocals only emphasise them on bland jazz-pop and iffy easy listening soul, as per songs such as “You’ve Got the Love” and, especially, “I Want to be Holding You Next Christmas”.
Rowland has said that LOVE “seems to end that journey that started with Searching for the Young Soul Rebels” (Dexys’ debut album). There’s nothing wrong with older singers being ruminative; it can lead to fresh creativity and great music. I like this band, very much including their more recent fare, and I wanted this final outing to be a gem. But it is not.
Below: A new seven-minute film by Kieran Evans celebrating the career of Dexys Midnight Runners
