Philip Kane - Songs For Swinging Lovers

Scintillating citizen Kane is the first man to outrageously describe himself as "Al Green singing Leonard Cohen" and find us all in total agreement.

Lyrically doomed and dextrous, musically flying from gospel to flamenco to feedback howls, and blessed with a magnetic white soul voice, Kane hails the potency of cheap music on "Me, The Ladyboy And Gloria Estefan", which concludes that Estefan "understands that life is painful and ultimately futile". But there's nothing cheap about his novelistic range and ambition. Lovers drink, confess and break their arms in seven places, our hero beats himself up like a broodier Brel/Bukowski, and we're reminded that music can matter like murder.

A ragged, graceful revelation.

Rating: 4 / 10