Paul Weller - Fat Pop (2021) [Official Digital Download]

Though he only released the superb ‘On Sunset’ last July, ‘Fat Pop (Volume 1)’ is Paul Weller’s lockdown record. Faced with no chance of performing ‘On Sunset’ live for the foreseeable future amid the pandemic, he instead delved into a vault of ideas he’d saved up on his phone, recording with his band remotely at first and then polishing things off with studio sessions over the summer.

Weller’s made enviable use of the time. The album is a delight: a generous collection of expertly crafted pop tracks, delivered with both the finesse of an artist of five decades’ experience and the lightness of touch that only comes when you’re having a blast. Never has the Modfather sounded quite so at ease.

Opener ‘Cosmic Fringes’ bursts into life with a pump of slick electro-pop synth, Weller singing with playful braggadocio: “I don’t believe my luck when I see him in the mirror.” It’s followed by a sunny soulful track, co-written with Lia Metcalfe of rising Liverpudlians The Mysterines (Weller’s a fan of the band and wanted the two of them to sing together). ‘Moving Canvas’, meanwhile, pays tribute to brilliant Iggy Pop: ‘You meet his gaze and then you turn to stone,” Weller sings. ‘Shades Of Blue’ is a touching pop vignette co-written and performed along with his daughter Leah. This might be in some part an isolation record, but it’s one that reaches outwards, bathed in a positive, collaborative glow.

TRACKLIST

1. Paul Weller - Cosmic Fringes
2. Paul Weller - True
3. Paul Weller - Fat Pop
4. Paul Weller - Shades Of Blue
5. Paul Weller - Glad Times
6. Paul Weller - Cobweb / Connections
7. Paul Weller - Testify
8. Paul Weller - That Pleasure
9. Paul Weller - Failed
10. Paul Weller - Moving Canvas
11. Paul Weller - In Better Times
12. Paul Weller - Still Glides The Stream



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