Description
Delusional and hopeful. Loving but injured. Full of vitriol though brimming with forgiveness. Intensely personal yet brutally open. Baxter Durys fifth album is both a private meditation into the very real relationship breakdown he experienced over the last year and his most ambitious and biggest work to date.
The albums opening track is also the portal into Durys hazy, anti-wonderland and it comes complete with a guide, Miami himself: a foul-mouthed, cocksure ladies man conjured into existence via a heady mix of excess, fatigue and emotional repression. The guy in the first song is a completely delusional person who thinks hes a gangster, explains his creator. The natty charm of Durys other records like his debut Len Parrots Memorial Lift or the acclaimed Happy Soup hasnt been lost, but by collaborating with a full band, producer Ash Workman (Metronomy, Christine & The Queens) and an orchestra, that spirit soars.
Dury recruited several vocal collaborators for the Prince Of Tears retinue, illuminating some of the albums dark corners. Long-term foil Madelaine Hart returns to provide her melancholic yet knowing backing vocals to several songs, Rose Elinor Dougall adds a sinister edge to Porcelain, while Sleaford Mods Jason Williamson enthusiastically chimes in on Almond Milk.
And chuffed is how Dury feels perhaps surprisingly about this album. It was really fun to make except for the pain I had to go through to inspire it, he grins. But I really like this record. My old man once said of a friend of mine: Your friend has got pronoia. Its the opposite of paranoia, its when you suffer from thinking everything is too brilliant. Well Ive got a nice case of pronoia at the moment. So, yeah your heart hurts, but it is 3am so the sun will be up soon Behold the Prince Of Tears.
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