Dexys: The Female Divine 

(100 P.c )

All Codecs Accessible 

Launched twenty eighth July

Purchase Right here

Dexys return with The Female Divine, 11 years after the discharge of their final album of authentic music.

Absolutely nobody wants an introduction to Dexys or Kevin Rowland? Sadly there could also be a necessity. Once I talked about I used to be reviewing this, and likewise interviewing Kevin for my Indie Brunch on Louder Than Struggle Radio, many didn’t realise the band and frontman had made it out of the Eighties; albeit with a prolonged interval on hiatus. Most have been conscious of them writing and recording a few the best-loved tracks of the period with Geno and the compulsory wedding ceremony/celebration favorite Come On Eileen and a few conscious of the album Don’t Stand Me Down which, a lot derided on the time, now usually seems within the ‘the best of all time’ lists.

Few have been conscious that the brand new album is definitely the sixth launch in simply over a decade following 2012’s One Day I’m Going To Soar; 2014’s Nowhere Is Residence (Dwell at Duke of York’s Theatre); 2016’s covers album Let the File Present: Dexys Do Irish and Nation Soul; 2019’s File Retailer Day At The BBC 1982 and final years Kevin Rowland & Dexys Midnight Runners Too-Rye-Ay, As It Ought to Have Sounded.

The Female Divine comes after a interval of reflection from Kevin Rowland, coming again to music after the lack of his mom on New Yr’s Eve 2016. He says he felt overwhelmed down, drained; and needed to do different issues. He started travelling, firstly to Thailand, partly to flee Britain’s winters, partly to discover the East Asian philosophies. Whereas exploring the concept that the physique retains the rating. “When folks noticed me doing that,” he recollects, “they mentioned, ‘Oh now you are able to do music in a brand new method’. I used to be like, no! I don’t need new music. I’m not doing it so I can do bloody music. I’m doing it for me.”

Realising he wanted to refocus his vitality, he started working towards tai chi qigong. Little did he realise, this is able to result in the central narrative of the brand new album. In a single session, the instructor described the ladies current as goddesses. “And I used to be considering, goddess? She’s not a fucking goddess,” Kevin scoffs. “However then as time went on, I began to grasp, really, ladies are goddesses. I thought of how highly effective they’re. That kind of thought had by no means been allowed – not by me, actually.” With a contemporary perspective and new-found positivity, the primary seeds of The Female Divine have been planted. The ensuing album is a private, if not strictly autobiographical, piece portraying a person whose views have developed over time. Not simply on ladies, however the entire idea of masculinity he had been raised with an training and an un-learning throughout 9 tracks.

Extremely The Female Divine is definitely solely the fifth album of authentic materials Dexys have launched of their profession. There’s a lot right here for the followers to like in addition to new musical instructions. It’s additionally a file which is able to entice those that aren’t essentially accustomed to the band’s previous. If I have been to provide the ‘elevator pitch’ the file’s first half is stuffed with music hall-esque swagger, a lot of it written with authentic Dexys’ trombonist Large Jim Paterson while the second is like nothing Dexys have executed earlier than. A saucy, synth-heavy cabaret, written in collaboration with Sean Learn and Mike Timothy. Rowland has all the time been a musical chameleon so hopefully there gained’t be any younger soul rebels anticipating one other  Geno.

Opening the album is The One That Loves You, a bouncing observe which affords a satirical, tough-guy feint earlier than Rowland lifts the curtain on “what I actually really feel”, introduced by a traditional little bit of spoken phrase that leads into It’s Alright Kevin (Manhood 2023). Eagle-eyed/eared long-term listeners will concentrate on the observe Manhood, a music launched on Dexys 2003 better of Let’s Make This Valuable. This can be a revamp although reasonably than a straight updating of the previous.

The subsequent couple of tracks which spherical off the primary facet of the album even have their origins previously. I’m Going to Get Free and Coming Residence have been written within the early ‘90s with Jim Paterson, throughout Rowland’s wilderness years, the place he binged on cocaine and retreated from public life. Ultimately reappearing in 1999 with My Magnificence which, satirically (within the context of this album) noticed him exploring his female facet, carrying lingerie and a specifically commissioned costume on the quilt.

The second facet of The Female Divine opens with the title observe which is not like something the band have produced beforehand. It’s steamy and sultry; doom-laden and heavy while additionally raunchy and funky. An S&M power-play. The next tracks are maybe these which influenced the album sleeve, a portray impressed by Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fireside and volcanoes. My Goddess Is and Goddess Guidelines have Rowland begging to be his girl’s “bitch” after which submitting to her phrases.

My Submission, the penultimate observe sees the singer pledging to be “your pet” which is undoubtedly the album’s excessive level. A fragile 6-minute piano lead piece with Rowland crooning, strings ebb and move all through. Rowland has usually talked about in interviews he has doubts about his vocals, however right here he delivers presumably one of the best of his profession. Closing with the digital Dance With Me, the artist cherishes a dance together with his goddess earlier than she goes off to discover the open facet of their relationship…

The album appears like a pure follow-up/sequel to One Day I’m Going To Soar which noticed Rowland going via a variety of feelings, together with loneliness; lust, turning into a romantic however then returning to being unhappy and self-doubting. On this new file, Rowland, as he approaches his seventieth birthday, seems to be at peace. As he says on the observe Coming Residence, ”I’ve been doing this a very long time,” says Kevin. “However I really feel I’ve bought to it now”.

Dexys, while led by Kevin Anthony Rowland, have all the time been the sum of its components so it’s solely proper that alongwith the collaborators talked about within the textual content, given the album’s subject material and sentiment I shut by highlighting the vocal abilities of Kim Chandler; Maddy Learn Clarke and Kamaria Castang with out whom…

Discover Dexys on Fb, Twitter and Instagram

All phrases by Iain Key. See his writer profile right here or discover him on Twitter as @iainkey