Something changed: Jarvis Cocker, Further Complications

A more appropriate title for Jarvis Cocker’s second solo album can’t exist.  Further Complications sees Cocker take his classic working class tales full of acerbic wit and social commentary and pass it through the meat grinder, ending up with a full-on garage rock album that runs in stark contrast to the art school pop of his early career.  It’s not a stylistic choice you would have ever imagined him making, but Cocker wears the rock star mantle well–very well actually—without ever pretending to be something or someone he’s not.  Cocker is a master at playing with audience perceptions, and challenging himself to go further and in directions other artists in his place would never dare to travel.

I don’t know whether Cocker settled on the style for this album before or after Steve Albini signed on to record the album, but his presence lends Further Complications a decidedly chunkier, rougher sound that suits Cocker’s vocal prowess beautifully.  I’m a big fan of great artist/producer relationships, and think that in Albini, Cocker has found himself a soul mate.  Both are very rooted in a specific aesthetic quality: Albini has always been a purist, preferring to record a performance live off the floor without any overdubs or polish, while Cocker has cultivated a working class, take-me-as-I-am persona that isn’t afraid to glam it up and give it some gloss.  Together, they’re making some glorious noise.  Remember, Albini may be the man who recorded In Utero, and quite possibly one of the scariest records I’ve ever heard, PJ Harvey’s Rid Of Me, but he’s also responsible for some of the finest moments in David Gedge’s career, so he’s really no slouch around a pop song.

Speaking of pop, Cocker’s compositions are some of the finest work he’s done in years.  “I Never Said I Was Deep” is a rollicking bluesy slow cooker awash with horns.  First single “Angela” sounds like it came straight out of a dirty garage in the heart of Detroit, while “You’re In My Eyes (Discosong)” is like a bastardized version of the Bee Gees.  “Slush” is about as gorgeous as the album gets, and a shoe-in as a Christmas single.

Complications aside, Cocker has easily crafted his most solid and cohesive set of songs since This Is Hardcore.  I hope this is just the first of a long line of projects he and Albini work on, but knowing Cocker, he’s most likely going to throw another curve ball at us and change the game completely.  This is Reggae, anyone?

MP3: Jarvis Cocker “I Never Said I Was Deep”
Myspace: Jarvis Cocker
Facebook: Jarvis Cocker
Buy: Jarvis Cocker Further Complications

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