It's lyrically depressing, but if you're down in the dumps about the ills of the world and frustrated by a lack of personal achievement, there's surely not a better companion piece to have to hand as you wallow.
Artistically at least, Jarvis is an idiosyncratic triumph.
The main difference between Jarvis and Pulp's final album, We Love Life, is that the new record feels far less portentous, and more brightly poppy.
One perfunctory listen will confirm that this is the most immediate album Cocker has put his name to in ten years.
On his first solo album, Jarvis, he shakes off his early-century doldrums with his finest batch of songs since This Is Hardcore.
As the sardonic crooner fronting Britpop vets Pulp, Jarvis Cocker fused epic, wall-of-sound pop and barbed social commentary. Happily, his killer solo debut offers more of the same.
Even if it isn't as immediate as the prime work of Pulp, it's a richly nuanced, complicated album that finds Cocker near the top of his craft as a writer and record maker.
There are songs here that easily stand up to any of Pulp’s high-points, and sound totally unique against the backdrop of 2006.
Fears that incipient middle age has mellowed the misanthropy of Pulp’s ex-frontman Jarvis Cocker are allayed by his solo album.
All in all, Jarvis is a mixed bag. It feels like the sort of thing that Cocker would do just to expunge his notebooks before moving on.
Jarvis is the record of someone losing hope, the sound of dejection turned up to 10.
Jarvis Cocker’s solo debut is not so much a curate’s egg as a game of two halves. The first “side” triggers a sinking sensation reminiscent of hearing Morrissey’s “Kill Uncle” for the first time in 1991: has our hero truly lost his touch?
Not to the level of Pulp or if I'm being honest, Richard Hawley.
Essential Track - Black Magic
Like a polarizing, neurotic Elvis Costello with his fair share of musical quirks and big ideas. It's all held together and kept grounded and accessible by the amazing energy and powerful sound of this music.
1 | The Loss Adjuster (Excerpt 1) 0:27 | |
2 | Don't Let Him Waste Your Time 4:09 | |
3 | Black Magic 4:21 | |
4 | Heavy Weather 3:49 | |
5 | I Will Kill Again 3:45 | |
6 | Baby's Coming Back to Me 4:09 | |
7 | Fat Children 3:23 | |
8 | From Auschwitz to Ipswich 3:39 | |
9 | Disney Time 3:04 | |
10 | Tonite 3:56 | |
11 | Big Julie 4:41 | |
12 | The Loss Adjuster (Excerpt 2) 0:29 | |
13 | Quantum Theory 4:37 |
#26 | / | NME |