Stunt 2009: Week 21 – Further Complications

*This is a companion piece to a similarly-themed article on Karen’s site which, all things being equal, should be published at roughly the same time.*

This week we have been listening to Jarvis Cocker’s recent album, *Further Complications*. It’s a great step forward from his previous album, which I have to confess, failed to impress me. Having lived in Paris with his wife for the last 5 years, he’s now single once again, and free to write an entire album about wanting to get into the knickers of girls who are half his age.

Generally speaking, the music on this album falls into two separate genres. There’s his noisy, brash, punk-rock material (which bears resemblance to what he did with *Relaxed Muscle*) and his mellower, thoughtful, clever-lyriced material (which bears resemblance to what he did with *Pulp*). Personally, I prefer the latter, because to me, it’s what Jarvis excels at. The loud stuff tends to sound the same after a while, and doesn’t sit as well with his voice. But he’s earned the right to indulge his fancies. It makes me wonder what direction he’s going to go in for the next album. One thing is almost certain though – I don’t think we’re ever going to hear anything like *Different Class* again.

Album closer *You’re In My Eyes (Discosong)* is a (slightly imperfect) throwback to those 8-minute Pulp epics of old, songs like *Sheffield: Sex City* and *Seductive Barry* and *My Legendary Girlfriend*. It sounds far cheesier than any of them ever did, and I can’t see myself getting absorbed by it in the same way, but it still serves as a kind of comforting familiar landmark.

The next week’s playlist

Karen’s selected Animal Collective so we’re going to listen to their most recent album, Merriweather Post Pavilion.