Baxter Dury - Allbarone

Baxter Dury has built a career out of sardonic half-singing, half-snarling portraits of England’s absurdities.

On Allbarone, his ninth album and first collaboration with heavyweight producer Paul Epworth, he takes that persona to a neon-lit future.

The resulting album is Baxter Dury at perhaps his most direct; nine tracks of sharp wit, harsh beats and warped intimacy.

The opening title-track is all metallic, tick-tocking, swooping synths and a raver’s pulse, with long-term collaborator JGrrey’s vocals mirroring Dury’s own. Europop dressed in drama, it’s both accessible and unsettling.

The sheen feels almost luxurious, but beneath the incessantly repeated title lies the darker heart and theme of the record: a tension between longing and bitterness which is never resolved for the characters.

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