Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia

London's biggest extrovert goes powerpop.

My past experiences with the music of Patrick Wolf have often been tumultuous. I've slightly admired and mostly ignored his oldest material because of "old times Shaun" being somewhat averse to any music that's not immediately gratuitous. Many critics have often complained that Wolf is pretentious showmanship at its most obvious, and they might be somewhat pleased by this latest record. Because with the gradual releases of singles 'Time of My Life', 'House' and 'This City', there has come an impression that he's ditched the mystere and embraced a kind of Mika (though less childish) optimism.

Indeed on opening 'The City' the music is as conventional as you can get. It's trademark romanticism, as pointed out by Wolf himself in an interview with Digital Spy:

It's saying that no matter how homeless, poor or jobless we are, we won't let that affect our love and relationships.

With brass sections, a bold chorus and heavy drums it's certainly uplifting and catchy enough to endure a few listens - but there's a nagging feeling that it reminds me a lot of another pop song entirely. The third single from the record, 'House' is a piano-led chunk of promises and romance ("And I love to hear you'd live with me / Gives me the greatest peace I've ever known") that eventually soars into strings sections that are probably a shade too Coldplay to endear him to most critics, but it's a sound I adore.


A harp is opted for in 'Bermondsey Street' and it's a noticeably more unusual track - children's voices, short bursts of brass and a structure not too dissimilar to a Cure song - that again asserts immediate balladry "regardless of religion" and "love knows no boundaries, sees beyond sexuality" with more earnesty than the typical "Born This Way" freedom waffle we've seen this year. Again, 'The Future' is a slice of Coldplay "I'm in love and I'm going to shove it in your face" zeitgeist that will either charm or enrage. I'm verging on the former, given a slight similarity to "Life In Technicolor II".

One of my favourite tracks on the record, 'Armistice' is a much more haunting, subtle and blissful piece of romance that suggests sacrifice and bargaining in a relationship (in its very name) referring to a fabled blackbird that was a metaphor for yearning love lost. 'William' is almost tongue-in-cheek, a reference to his partner, asking "Will you be my conqueror?" However my runaway favourite from the album, and one of the best songs I've heard all year, is 'Time of My Life'. "I am a slave to my early grave" warns a lover trying to move on from a past relationship, throwing out lines like "hold on, won't be long" and "grow through this struggle" before the rewardingly triumphant chorus of "happy without you"s that are just, with the aid of a beautiful instrumentatal, beautifully satisfying.

The slow strings approach continues into 'The Days' that washes around gracefully with an almost lullaby quality, which is a little bit of a polite way of saying "I'm a bit bored by it, but it's quite nice." 'Slow Motion' is a shade more beautiful, and reinstates the theatricality of his previous records, so it almost acts as a catharsis at the end of the record, before what is to follow. Ending triumphantly, we're suddenly introduced to electropop Patrick Wolf - 'Together' has a slight but persistent beat for which more standard instrumental inclusions can shine over. Operatics, whispers, strings and pianos all thrive off the newfound energy and it makes for an invigorating experience after the strictly pop first half of the album. It also acts as the necessary precursor to a rejoicing finale, 'The Falcons', which boldly announces "things are looking up, up, up for you... for me... for us, finally".


I'm sure there'll be many who mourn a loss of the more unorthodox, mysterious and 'weird' Patrick Wolf - but to me that artist was almost inaccessible. The songs on Lupercalia, whilst typical of powerpop, are immediately uplifting and a much more honest and striking approach to the lyrical themes of romance and promise that his old persona only ever really hinted at. The songwriting has also drastically improved - and whilst I don't think I'm in a position to suggest which are his best albums - this is by far the one I've most enjoyed.

Rating: 7.5/10
Highlights: Time of My Life, Together, The Falcons, House, Armistice, Slow Motion
Avoid: The Days, William
Artwork Watch: The angelic form of La Roux. (Yes I'm saying Elly Jackson is the Antichrist)