Malcolm Middleton: Waxing Gibbous (Full Time Hobby)

11:55 | Monday April 20, 2009

“The usual shite” is Malcolm Middleton’s reluctant summation of his fifth solo album but as any fans of the indie folk strummer will know, his “usual shite” is a great deal better than much of the so-called best work produced by others in his profession.

Yet Middleton appears to be strangely downbeat (more so than usual anyway) about this 10-track body of work, claiming it will be his last solo work for some years.

The sense of Middleton coming to the end of one journey is palpable here as Waxing Gibbous begins in roaring form but by the end dissipates somewhat with a more introspective and fragile leaning similar to many of the songs on second album Into The Woods.

It kicks off with a typically driving acoustic number, new single Red Travellin' Socks being the kind of attention-grabbing number that suits Middleton's trademark growl so well and harmonises effortlessly with Jenny Reeve’s backing vocals.

Kiss At The Station strikes a mournful note with its distant blasts of train horns in the intro but swiftly strikes up a staccato rhythm and builds into a crescendo of guitar and drums at the mid point, before stripping itself bare again.

Carry Me issues forth with a soft acoustic approach, spoken vocals mingling with observations of childhood ambitions and lifelong regret.

Elsewhere, there is an electro undercurrent, with Zero and I Don’t Want To Sleep Tonight hinting at the direction taken by the songs at the tail end of this album while Shadows is a typically modest Middleton composition, all self-deprecation wrapped in those happy-sad tunes he belts out so well.

If this is his final album for some years, it is a great shame as he leads the current crop of maudlin Scottish songwriters by quite some distance and on the evidence of 2007’s A Brighter Beat was really starting to create a niche for himself.

Waxing Gibbous is no Brighter Beat, though Middleton seems to be happier with that direction, but if you stand it apart from what one might have called Middleton’s breakthrough album, it is nevertheless an arresting and enjoyable record. Well, with Middleton it’s perhaps not enjoyable in the traditional sense, but you know what I’m driving at...