Rating: NNN
There are certain things you come to expect from a Robyn Hitchcock album: slithery Lennonesque vocals wry, surrealistic lyrics cascading vocal harmonies quirky experimental moments melancholic chiming chords. It’s all here on Goodnight Oslo, the whimsical Cambridge singer/songwriter’s 16th studio release, another instantly familiar-sounding offering.
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The 10-song album ricochets between great – the grammatically playful What You Is, the countryish Hurry For The Sky – and just okay. Sixteen Years is awfully draggy, Intricate Thing unenlightening. Goodnight Oslo doesn’t approach the brilliance of 1984’s I Often Dream Of Trains or, say, 1980’s Underwater Moonlight by his early Soft Boys. And there are few surprises except for the fact that, after three decades of making music, Hitchcock can still churn out consistently strong work. No small feat.
Top track: Hurry For The Sky
Robyn Hitchcock plays the Mod Club on April 16.
