Dexys Midnight Runners - LOVE

My Life In England Pt.1;You’ve Got The Love; Once A Man and Twice A Child; You’re Alright; I Want To Be Holding You Next Christmas;I’ll Always Love You; Strange Feelin; It’s Over Now; Old Love; My Life In England Pt.2

(Heavenly)

There was always something gloriously unpredictable about Dexys Midnight Runners. Kevin Rowland never seemed particularly interested in giving people what they expected — and on LOVE, he still isn’t.

If the Dexys of Come On Eileen were all brass, sweat and youthful abandon, this is a very different beast. At 73, Rowland has traded some of that old fire for something arguably more revealing: perspective. LOVE is an album about memory, ageing, family, mortality and reconciliation, and it feels less like a comeback than a man finally taking stock of the road behind him.

Opening with My Life In England Pt. 1, Rowland looks back at his upbringing and the world that shaped him, the song carrying a wistful warmth rather than nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake. There is no attempt to recreate the glory days. Instead, the past is examined with the benefit — and occasional discomfort — of hindsight.

That reflective mood runs deep. Once A Man, Twice a Child is particularly affecting, turning the complicated relationship between parent and child into something tender and heartbreaking, while Old Love confronts the indignities and contradictions of getting older. Rowland’s voice, once capable of sounding like it might tear through the speakers, has softened considerably. But that fragility works in his favour. Every crack feels earned.

Musically, LOVE is equally unhurried. Producer David Holmes gives the record a rich, organic sound, allowing strings, keyboards and understated arrangements to create space around Rowland rather than competing with him. Strange Feelin, a jazz-inflected interpretation of Tim Buckley’s song, is a particularly elegant detour, while I Want To Be Holding You Next Christmas finds Rowland embracing unabashed sentimentality.

And sentimentality is really the key to understanding this record. There are moments when LOVE feels almost painfully sincere, but that is also its greatest strength. Rowland has spent much of his career wrestling with his own contradictions; here, he seems increasingly comfortable admitting that life doesn't always provide neat resolutions.

Those expecting another Too-Rye-Ay should look elsewhere. There is no attempt to manufacture another.Come On Eileen, nor should there be. This is Dexys stripped of expectation and, in many ways, stripped of armour.

LOVE is not an album about pretending to be young. It is about discovering what remains when youth, ambition and ego have fallen away. And for an artist who has always made vulnerability sound like a form of defiance, that makes this one of Rowland’s most honest records yet.