Justin Currie

At the heart of this fourth solo album from Justin Currie is a divine slice of the kind of soulful pop he seems able to produce at will. Failing To See (for Del Amitri fans, a distant cousin of Just Before You Leave) mixes gorgeous melody against a painful underbelly. 'Failing to see the future, where one of us must be without the other' Currie sings with his smooth vocal wrapping around bitter reflections of a couple seemingly falling apart. Here, in four almost perfect minutes, is why Currie has built up a loyal and passionate band of fans. He has an uncanny ability to deliver divine bitter sweet pop songs.

This Is My Kingdom Now comes more than three years after his last solo album, since when Currie reformed for a brief period with his former band. There was talk of an album but that has never materialised. Instead he's produced his best solo outing. Given a much richer sound by long time producer Mark Freegard, this showcases a much broader spectrum of Currie's talents. Gone are the over-used programmed drums of Lower Reaches, here is a full band with added trumpets and even a flugelhorn.

For the faithful there are those typical Currie musical vignettes, like Fallen Trees, I'll leave It To You and the jolly sing-along of Hey Polly. Harder edged are the brittle Crybabies, with its questioning of a relationship between father and son. Harder still on the male parents of the world is Abandoned Sons; 'I didn't know you could blow the life out of something that you set the spark in'. Away from failing fatherhood, Currie surrounds us with a brooding sense of water. There's the taunting The Dead Sea and the 'shipwrecks' of I Love The Sea, while there are 'treasures of the sea' in the warming embrace of I'll Leave It To You.

Elsewhere, the introspection of Two People might be too much for some but there's more light than shade here, with the title track and the delicate My Soul Is Stolen exactly what fans adore about Currie. There is even a return to the watery themes on the chiming Sydney Harbour Bridge. His time on the road with Del Amitri has done Currie good and it's great to hear one of the UK's finest vocalists musically and metaphorically pushing the boat out.