Reviewed by Oscar Hyde

For his sixth solo release the Deacon Blue frontman offers socially conscious folk to take on the era of austerity and the squeezing of the working classes. The arrangements are accordingly sparse and intimate, often solo guitar or piano, spurning heart-wrenching opulence for sonic solidarity. With song titles such as "Now I Smoke, Like I Used To Pray", Ross sticks very much on the "confessional" side of singer/songwriterdom, though not necessarily confessions of his own life. His work wih Deacon Blue right through to today has been shot through with a strong current of sympathy for the downtrodden, never preachy or expository; instead, he relates stories (often confessional) of people in terrible situations, for showing is so much more powerful than telling. Here, as ever, his protests against an unfair and unjust world don't take the form of blunt rants but of stories, stories of Saracen maids and Dundee boys, stories of taxi drivers and drug addicts, awash in cruel circumstances. But one track in the middle offers hope: "We Shall Overcome The Whole Wide World". The last song builds on that hope with icy, reverberating piano twinkles - signs of change, signs of things to come, harbingers of the disappearance of scarcity, pinpricks of light shining through the darkest night sky.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.