Witty, inventive, droll, painfully dark, self-deprecatory humour, killer lines, and timeless piano-based pop, almost showtune melodies? It can only be the latest set of classic songs by the Manchester-based American singer-songwriter Brian Christinzio, who confronts his repressed past, depression and more with his eccentric, eclectic panache. At the heart of the album is the chilling chamber pop of Where You Taking My Baby?, which, with a cheery, thumping tune and shades of The Beach Boys, talkily confronts the anonymous adult who sexually abused him as a child at a summer camp. Opener The Tent presents an slow, eerie prelude to this. Thankfully there is also sense of closure and calm at the end of the album on the closing ninth track instrumental Leaving Camp Four Oaks. But there are also many laugh-out-loud moments on the troubled troubadour’s seventh album, mixing strange sirens with sweet piano parts and is lyrically always full of fabulous turns. Highlights include the playful plunging chords and pathos as well as parody of pity in Two Legged Dog featuring The Last Dinner Party’s Abigail Morris, the title track with a classic BC opening line and much more (“I threw my Christmas tree out December 23rd because it doesn't matter”), while Bubbles In The Gasoline is a beautiful, twinkly piano number with a bittersweet love theme - “I’ll catch you in the morning if I pull through / It’s what I do I get to the morning and I pull through /Give me the love / Give me the bad times / Give me the romance / Give me your eyes / Give me the time / Give me the cold shoulder Give me the lies Like a rip in the trampoline / Or bubbles in the gasoline.” As ever, a troubled talent full of ups and downs, but let’s hope he continues to channel these, pull through, and create further brilliant songs. Out on Bella Union.
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