Justin Currie - This Is My Kingdom Now (2017)

Justin Currie will make his debut at Perth Festival of the Arts, an event to which his father used to contribute a new opera production each year. Since launching a post-Del Amitri solo career a decade ago, Currie junior has essayed just about every sort of music bar opera, but his fourth solo album follows those he made for Rykodisc and 2013's Lower Reaches with another collection of slightly maudlin Americana, songs about omnipotence and self-obsession that reward rather closer listening that the Dels' pop hits demanded.

A couple of them, and notably I Love The Sea, which is one of the standouts, were giving an airing in Paisley Abbey when Currie was the latest collaborator with the RSNO at The Spree. On the album it boasts some very ear-catching guitar work, but such high profile contributions to the production by his sidemen are spare – the trumpet solo on the title track being another. Those two tracks are examples of recordings where he indulges a temptation towards the epic, while others are more highly polished miniatures, with Sydney Harbour Bridge and Crybabies being examples of those. There is a line in the latter that even nods towards his father's choral work, if I am not mistaken.

“Currie lives and breathes in Glasgow, collects beer mats and makes his own cushions”, which succinctly reflects the appearance of nonchalance that he consistently adopts for his releases. Don’t be fooled, though – ‘This Is My Kingdom Now’ will no doubt be another example of Currie’s superior songwriting talent and a contender for many ‘album of the year’ lists.

TRACKLIST

01. My Name Is God
02. Fallen Trees
03. This Is My Kingdom Now
04. Sydney Harbour Bridge
05. Crybabies
06. Failing to See
07. The Dead Sea
08. Abandoned Sons
09. Hey Polly
10. I Love the Sea
11. I'll Leave It to You
12. Two People
13. My Soul Is Stolen