James Blunt - Moon Landing

The reaction to 2004's Back to Bedlam was probably the most divisive since Bryan Adams had the similar misfortune of dominating the chart whilst everyone grew to hate him. In a way it was the first internet-furore, and now - nearly a decade on - it's quite pleasing to see that Blunt hasn't let it faze him and he's become something of a cult hit on Twitter for his unusually chipper responses to anyone who criticises him. That said, he searches for these insults himself, which is a little curious and a touch sad. If you're ever reading this James, I'm here for you. You lovely thing.

That said, he's always been a love/hate guy and most of that stems from his voice alone. When distracted with good enough songs it's listenable, but at his creative worst it sticks out like a cat throwing insults at you. Moon Landing - a far stronger effort than 2010's wholly forgettable Some Kind of Trouble but not quite as rewarding as All the Lost Souls and its excellent lead single 1973 - finds Blunt in a more personal light, but the end results are still mixed at best.

As has always been the case, this Blunt album is sometimes reassuringly pretty: he may be indirectly responsible for the recent wave of folk-pop that's crossed the Atlantic (Mumford, Sheeran, Swift). 'Bonfire Heart' - its lead single - is something of a surprise hit given how derivative and obvious it is, right down to the Ryan Tedder songwriting feature (please stop, Ryan), road-trip music video, and self-congratulatory photographs with fans, but it's awfully cheery. Can't deny that. Stronger though, is second single 'Heart to Heart', a sort-of hybrid of rock & roll standard songwriting and Coldplay's whole Viva la Vida skyward-looking stance. It's nice. It's a feeling only sparingly felt by this old cynic on this album, but 'Bones' and 'Always Hate Me' are strongly-impacting songs with intentions of rising Blunt above his usual whimpering guitar image. Closer 'Blue on Blue' is similarly showy, as though destined for some British romcom soundtrack, and lands firmly in the "listenable" camp.

Some of the lines and moments are just awfully cringe-inducing: 'Miss America', allegedly intended as a tribute to the late Whitney Houston, does nothing but remind me of that episode of the Office where David Brent reveals to Dawn and Gareth Paris Nights, the song he wrote for Princess Diana, before drawing tenuous links between the lyrics, her death, and Dawn's love woes (Gareth: Your relationship with Lee is a bit like a car crash. Dawn: In Paris? Gareth: City of love.) Or the motorcycle sound at the beginning of opener 'Face the Sun' (otherwise a fine song), as though we're meant to believe these are the tear-stained letters from a Kerouac protagonist. The ukelele of 'Postcards' is another such moment; the whole thing just reminds me of Katherine Heigl. You know. Her shitty movies and her shitty acting and her shitty, overdone premises. "We sat out on your rocking chair/ You with a flower in your hair". REALLY, Blunt?

The album's greatest undoing, though, is its overwhelming mediocrity. The not-terribly-well-hidden Regina Spektor ripoff 'Satellites' plods along like one of those cute Eurovision songs that just distract you inbetween the truly amazing "Romanian opera guy in a towering dress" moments, whilst the wildly over-the-top 'Sun on Sunday' might even overdo Goodbye My Lover in the subtlety stakes. "They say all things heal with time but it's untrue" he opines on 'The Only One'. Quite right.

Whilst not appalling I think it's best we move on.

Rating: 4/10
Highlights: Heart to Heart; Face the Sun; Bones; Bonfire Heart; Always Hate Me
Avoid: Miss America; Satellites; Sun on Sunday

Artwork Watch: Heads are terrifying when not attached to necks.
Up next: Avril Lavigne
oh fuck