Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 01/06/09
Label: Bloody Chamber Music

God loves a trier. And God knows Partick Wolf is one of life's great triers. Relentlessly bullied as a youth, he left home at 16 to prove everyone wrong by way of a pop career of unrivalled flamboyance; delighting cult audiences with outrageous outfits, unabashed virtuosity and increasingly ostentatious recordings. His label and the public at large, however, remained indifferent and Wolf was unceremoniously dropped by Universal last year. Bouncing back again though he sourced investment from his fans via bandstocks.com and recorded "The Bachelor", chapter one of a promised double album.

"Do you take the chance to defeat the swords? The future is yours..." goes the clipped sample on "Theseus" and from the galloping, blustery opener "Hard Times" it's clear Wolf" is as fearless as ever, calling for "resolution and revolution" and wrestling with Big Topics like international terrorism, bellicose governments and collapsing economies. Sadly, his somewhat desperate evocation of the zeitgeist is undone by its hackneyed characterisation of modernity: "Overload of information", "Ignorance adored", "Mediocrity applauded"? You don't say, Patrick? And therein lies the problem.

"The Bachelor" frequently falters by dint of Wolf trying a just a little too hard. So keen is he to make a career defining record it sounds like he's ticking off a list of bases covered: Duets ("The Bachelor"), choirs ("Who Will"), tubular bells ("Damaris"), celtic flutes ("Thickets"), glitchy drums ("Oblivion"), synths and florid instrumentation all clamour for attention at every turn, whilst he's unflinchingly heartfelt lyrics offer a couple of toe-curling moments, the jaw-droppingly melodramatic "Blackdown", for instance.

Though 'epic' is the all too predictable by-line try not to think of "War Of The Worlds" whilst listening to "Thickets" or "Damaris" and you can hear something's just about working, Wolf's voice at its most mannered and thereby lending proceedings an endearingly English eccentricity. Had he stuck to this particular strain of prog-pomp (sparing us the frightful Thompson Twins-lite synth-pop of "Vulture" and the pointless electro metal of "Battle" in the process), the album as a whole might feel somewhat leaner and borderline coherent.

There's no denying modern music needs mavericks like Patrick Wolf to continue the great lineage of our Bowies and Caves. And this will please his legions of fans as much as "Hard Times" or "Theseus" will undoubtedly resonate when scaled up for those big festival stages. Overall, though, "The Bachelor" has more than a whiff of a histrionic West End musical confined to a primary school assembly hall which means it's 10 out of 10 for effort, but for execution...

    by Jim Brackpool