Media

Jarvis Cocker: "Angela" (MP3)

3:05 p.m. · April 18, 2009 · by Matthew Fiander

Did Jarvis Cocker borrow Morrissey's band after the Years of Refusal sessions to record this one? Because the first listen from Cocker's new album Further Complications has the Brit-pop elder statesman taking on a decidedly stripped-down rock sound, lackng any of those complications the album's title promises us. I guess if you turn to irony enough, you start using it incidentally.

I can't help but feel the song is missing something without Cocker's usual crooning theatrics. But despite its basic sound. it is still a pretty catchy tune and Cocker manages to inject the song with a handful of excellent moments. "She makes 4.15 and hour, and complimentary showers" is another in a long line of keen but off-kilter observations from Cocker's song catalog. And when the backing vocals join him to sing the title girl's name in the chorus, the song pretty much locks itself in as a future crowd-pleasing sing-along.

Further Complications is out May 19 on Rough Trade. [You Ain't No Picasso]