The Lilac Time - Return To Us - BMG - Out Now
Recent interviews with songwriter Stephen Duffy suggest that this tenth album from his beloved Lilac Time is the album he's been trying to make since the group's inception in the late '80s. He could well be right. From the obvious sleeve reference to the band's self-titled debut issued thirty years ago, Return To Us is by turns an album of recollection and looking to the future, even at a time when Duffy has two other retrospective releases in the pipeline (his solo LP I Love My Friends and a Lilac Time compilation).
Now firmly entrenched in Cornwall away from the headlights, spotlights and distractions of bigger cities and record company wrangles, Stephen Duffy, his wife Claire and brother Nick are clearly benefitting from the sea air - Return To Us is a rewarding breezy listen from front to back.
Lead-song I'm a Believer isn't your typical jaunty opener with lines like "Their city is no place to live, no one there knows how to give..." and "Life can be hard enough, without all their bullshit...", but trust me this is a subtle slow-burner that cannot fail to evoke emotions with an attendant pedal steel guitar in tow. And there's more of the same sounds supporting the terrific single and title-track and the equally resplendent The Simple Things, two sweetly trilled songs packed full of hope and solidarity in these testing times.
The Duffys have never been as overtly political as now. On Return To Us he suggests "It's treason if you think to shout, welcome to the blackout" and that "It's not our country anymore, get ready for a civil war...". Hey, this is the quiet revolution getting louder in the land of the gentle, albeit dressed up in pristine pin-sharp pop.
There's a hark back to the days of Nick Duffy's Bait era with the closing instrumental King Kopetsky, (curiously named after an auditory processing disorder of the brain) and a handful of trademark plaintive songs such as March to the Docks and The River and Down - in fact, everything worth waiting for on this delightful LP.
9/10
Now firmly entrenched in Cornwall away from the headlights, spotlights and distractions of bigger cities and record company wrangles, Stephen Duffy, his wife Claire and brother Nick are clearly benefitting from the sea air - Return To Us is a rewarding breezy listen from front to back.
Lead-song I'm a Believer isn't your typical jaunty opener with lines like "Their city is no place to live, no one there knows how to give..." and "Life can be hard enough, without all their bullshit...", but trust me this is a subtle slow-burner that cannot fail to evoke emotions with an attendant pedal steel guitar in tow. And there's more of the same sounds supporting the terrific single and title-track and the equally resplendent The Simple Things, two sweetly trilled songs packed full of hope and solidarity in these testing times.
The Duffys have never been as overtly political as now. On Return To Us he suggests "It's treason if you think to shout, welcome to the blackout" and that "It's not our country anymore, get ready for a civil war...". Hey, this is the quiet revolution getting louder in the land of the gentle, albeit dressed up in pristine pin-sharp pop.
There's a hark back to the days of Nick Duffy's Bait era with the closing instrumental King Kopetsky, (curiously named after an auditory processing disorder of the brain) and a handful of trademark plaintive songs such as March to the Docks and The River and Down - in fact, everything worth waiting for on this delightful LP.
9/10