David Lowery - The Palace Guards

The name probably doesn't ring a bell, but the voice will – well, if you've had much of an interest in 80s and 90s alternatively US music, at least. David Lowery fronted Camper Van Beethoven (who you have vaguely heard of, and are probably familiar via their cover of ‘Pictures of Matchstick Men' from 1989) and Cracker, who did ‘Low' and ‘Teen Angst' (You know: "What the world needs now is another folk singer/like I need a hole in my head". Yep, that one).hile it naturally has connections with his previous work, The Palace Guards has the same sense of freedom and joy as former (and future) Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus' self-titled solo debut, with a palpable sense that any idea is one worth pursuing. And, like that record, he's right to follow those instincts: in general it's a bit more gentle than most of Lowery's previous work, but the focus is on the lyrics and the melody as much as it ever has been.

The lyrics are unsurprisingly wonderful. ‘Deep Oblivion' features Robyn Hitchcock-like quips such as "Oblivion/It rhymes with ‘Vivien'", but then he'll drop something that scans as perfectly as "you and I were thinking ‘bout a decommissioned sub" where the beautiful rhythm strikes well before the whimsicality of the lyric has a chance to register. The title track also sums up the entire album with "It's just my sense of humour, y'all", even as it gently admits to stalker-like behaviour in "I hid your passport/I put you on a no-fly list".

It's also a very well-sequenced disc, with the gentle ‘Ah, You Left Me' asking "Why did you leave?" before providing the answer with the album's most rockin' number, the glorious ‘Baby, All Those Girls Meant Nothing To Me' ("I'm crawlin' on my hands and my knees through all my thrown-out stuff"), which is one of the few times that Lowery's cracking upper register, familiar from classics like CVB's ‘Take The Skinheads Bowling' or Cracker's‘Happy Birthday To Me', comes to the fore. And those enamoured of his more countrified moments will find it hard to go past the stomping opener 'Raise 'Em Up On Honey'.

Maybe this wouldn't appeal quite so powerfully to someone coming to Lowery for the first time ever, but if you've ever enjoyed his peculiar vision in the past it's well worth surrendering to The Palace Guards.

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