Malcolm Middleton - Sleight Of Heart

Think you’re feeling rubbish?

Not so much a companion piece as a dark underbelly to his recent A Brighter Beat, Sleight Of Heart collects all the leftover small-hours strummings from Falkirk’s king of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor’s self-titled “boo-hoo/way-hey!” period.

You feel they were left off for the sake of thematic unity rather than quality control. While they chime with BB’s bleak-but-robust humour and oscillation between optimism and despair, there’s an unsteadier edge that might have tipped the fine balance of that album’s battered hope. The falsely jaunty self-hatred of Total Belief (“In the depth of my unworthiness”) in particular, suggests Malc’s not always sure of a silver lining.

It’s not all dour and sour, though. Love Comes In Waves reasserts his romantic side and may catch the unwary listener with something in their eye. Covers of Madonna’s Stay and Jackson C Frank’s Just Like Anything are little flat by comparison; Middleton sounds uncomfortable with others’ less nuanced words. Marguerita Red by compatriot King Creosote is better, its extrovert verve dragging him out of himself for a bit. Not for too long hopefully; few navel-gaze quite so well.

Full Time Hobby | FTH 044 CD

Reviewed by Emily Mackay
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