Edwyn Collin’s 1994 single A Girl Like You was massive- a bona fide hit that has been a staple of pretty much every party mix I’ve made since. Perfectly formed, retro-sounding but fresh in tone, A Girl Like You is, in short, an awesome pop song. Fast forward thirteen years and the ex-Orange Juice singer is now onto his sixth solo album- Home Again; and while it has its moments, if you’re expecting a record full of A Girl Like You moments, you’ll feel let down. Edwyn Collins has a distinctive voice- one that connects the dots between Bryan Ferry and Richard Hawley, with a resonant, crooning tone. Ballad Written In Stone shows this voice off nicely, as does 7th Son, a bluesy stomp which seems to imagine Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in the studio with Spiritualized. Other highlights surely include the summer breeziness of You’ll Never Know (My Love) and Leviathan, a moody folk song heavily indebted to the Romantic poets and their sense of awe and wonder in the face of the sublime landscape. A bluesy, folky, rockabilly record full of pop songs and ballads, Home Again has a mini-album’s worth of great tracks; a bit of pruning to relieve some dead weight wouldn’t have gone amiss. One Is A Lonely Number and One Track Mind, for example, fall a little short and become somewhat tedious partway through.
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