After years tinkering with his post-Soft Boys sound, everything fell into place for Robyn Hitchcock on his fifth solo album. Reducing keyboardist Roger Jackon to a supporting role, Hitchcock pared down his backing band to the duo of ex-Soft Boys Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor, anchoring the songs around his shimmering guitar. “Raymond Chandler Evening” is two minutes of wispy beauty, with Hitchcock's echoing arpeggios swirling around the glide of Metcalfe's fretless bass and Windsor's crisp cymbals.

“Bass” and “Somewhere Apart” hark back to the anxious brittleness of Fegmania!, but “Winchester” and “Ted, Woody & Junior” (the latter inspired by the proto-gay muscle mags of the 1950s) are things of gossamer loveliness, hanging in the air like jeweled smoke. Better still is the gorgeous “Airscape,” inspired by an eroding vista on the Isle of Wight.

Element also brings Hitchcock's folk influences to the fore: “Never Stop Bleeding” has the coiled creepiness of Bob Dylan at his most oblique, and “Lady Waters & the Hooded One” is a surreal story-song in the mode of “Matty Groves.” Diverse but unified, the original ten-track album remains one of Hitchcock's consistently enthralling, and one of his best.

“The Black Crow Knows,” “The Crawling,” “The Leopard” and… read more »