[…continued from last post]

It was pretty cheeky of Jarvis Cocker to pilfer an iconic John Foxx song title for “My Sex,” but the important thing was…how was he going to stamp his imprint on such a loaded title? By deconstructing the very idea of his sexuality, of course. The bass and Fender Rhodes piano plowed a steady mid-tempo groove as the the tang of Mark Weber’s guitar snaked through the groove. The abstract choir being used rhythmically at the song’s midpoint were being used creatively here in lieu of loops as the voices lagged behind the beat as they chanted a series of letters and numbers. Eventually a whipcrack sample joined in, suggesting that perhaps one view of “my sex” as ultimately being a cruel taskmaster. With rhythmic pants playing off of the string section.

Single “Got To Have Love” was a propulsive serving of Morricone Disco perhaps germinated in the year of self-searching that saw Cocker split from his partner before they ultimately rejoined each other in marriage. Cocker excoriated the loveless life with a pitiless series of exclamations that were potent in their vehemence. The backing vocal choir had an envelope applied to their “got to have love” exhortations that made them function as brass within the midrange-heavy song.

Cocker’s spoken middle eight thirty two began as the music bed dropped out and then slowly built up to effectively ramp up the tension in the song as a segue into the one fiery guitar solo from Mark Weber to be found in the entire string-heavy album. As the song vaulted for the heavens in its climax.

The shimmering ballad “Background Noise” had the vibe of a track from “His + Hers” due to the fact that this was the first song on the album where Candida Doyle was playing a synthesizer as well as the big Spector drumbeats marking the drama in the song to be expertly milked by Emma Smith’s violin. Cocker sagely commented on the Rough Trade website, when he said “if I was a life coach I’d say part of the secret of life is to find a way of not getting bored of things that are good.” The central metaphor here was how something as precious as love became something one could ignore if not careful.

“Hymn For The North” was written for a play [“Light Falls” by Simon Stephens] a few years before being recorded by Pulp for “More.” Stephens set the play in the North of England and had given Cocker the title, but the rest was up to him. Mr. Cocker looked at his son who was graduating school and getting ready for college as the spark that lit the fires of the song. It was a song of two halves with the intimate, cabaret style of the first part [featuring Chilly Gonzales on piano] then a dramatic shift to the larger theatrics of the second half as the soundstage widened when the string orchestra and larger band swelled to encapsulate a father’s feelings as they watched their child become independent.

The album ended on an intimate note with “A Sunset” just having a dialogue between violin and acoustic guitar until the chorale of Enos [Lotti, Cecily, Darla, Irial, and father Brian] joined in the song and the greater band joined in the bucolic yet bitterly sarcastic song. Herein, Mr. Cocker posited a time and place where tickets were sold to sunsets as the celestial phenomenon had finally become monetized by forces beyond the wildest dreams of cynicism. Ending the album on a featherlight landing to emphasize the the satirical hope that we never get to such a place. Notably, the band have chosen to donate songwriting credit to the Earth Percent Initiative.

Musically, the album hits the familiar Pulp high points from their Imperial Period with some of the orgasmic shimmer of “His + Hers,” coupled with the more direct approach of “Different Class.” But the biggest touchstone that I heard on this one was what might have been the unfinished business of “We Love Life” and its exploration of string orchestra and the contribution that it could make to these songs. With the requisite new wrinkle being the addition of a prominent chorale for backing vocals. All of this occasionally allowing for fortissimo while studiously avoiding overstatement.

The biggest thematic change was in the formerly reticent Jarvis Cocker’s desire to get out of his introverted head and to live within his feelings. Experiencing them fully. The word itself crops up here with regularity and signifies a tonal shift that allows these songs a sense of intimacy with the listener. This may be down to the fact that he approached this album by first examining his notes and notebooks to see what he had to say instead of downing a bottle and writing what rose up from the depths…after the music beds were all put down to hard drive. While it had worked spectacularly with “Different Class,” it most certainly did not with the touchy “This Is Hardcore” album that was an experience that he didn’t want to put the band through again.

Fortunately, it doesn’t mean that we’ll never get the electric charge of a “Common People” or “…Running The World” again, only that such direct political salvos will be tempered with the sort of internal perspectives that gave “A Sunset” a light touch for its provocative premise. The underlying thought that “Spike Island” delivered was that the older, wiser Mr. Cocker was now ready to give the band the platform he felt that they deserved so let’s hope that a few more turns by this renewed band are still in the queue to make the next few years a little more kind.

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