Jarvis Cocker : Further Complications :: Review
Is a Jarvis Cocker with a beard the same as the beardless variety who helmed Pulp so many years ago? The obvious answer to that question would be yes, but this new Jarvis Cocker rocks so much more than the beardless variety. Cocker teamed up with Steve Albini after a meeting at Lollapalooza and picked him as producer after a brief stay in Chicago. Albini seems to have coaxed the rocker out of Cocker, which triggered a much-needed transformation not only in sound but also in appearance. Cocker and Albini are a formidable duo that work well together. Albini’s improved sonic palette is a dramatic improvement over Cocker’s debut and accentuates the wordplay rather than leave it feeling flaccid.
Albini marks his territory early on this album as “Further Complications” features an angular and fuzzy guitar riff backed by a thunderous drum track. The freak beat of the first single, “Angela” sounds like it could have fallen out of an Elvis Costello songbook. The glammy instrumental “Pilchard” is saved from its throwaway status by the “oohs and ahhs” that Cocker puts in the mix. After the nonsense of “Pilchard,” the album ratchets up a notch with the lyrically sublime centerpieces of the album, “Leftovers” and “I Never Said I Was Deep.” “Leftovers” is a soulful piece that contains some of the wittier writing on the album such as, “…I met her in the museum of paleontology/make no bones about/ if you wish to study dinosaurs/I know a specimen who is interesting.” The apologetic “I Never Said I Was Deep” almost acknowledges all of the narrator’s flaws but admits there was a warning.
The second side of the album kicks off with the very Stonesy saxophone and rhythms of “Homewrecker!” From there, Cocker swaggers and preens in the T. Rex influenced “Hold Still.” “Fuckingsong” and “Caucasian Blues” seem to be the bum notes on this album as “Fuckingsong” doesn’t jive with the rest of the songs and “Caucasian Blues” sounds like a rewrite of Pulp’s “Common People.” The dirgey “Slush” would have been a better closer for the album than the tacked on faux Barry White funk of “You’re In My Eyes (Discosong)” which grinds things to a halt. Even with a beard, Jarvis Cocker still remains cheeky.
“Further Complications” is available May 19 on Rough Trade US.
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