KEY POINTS:
MALCOLM MIDDLETON
Sleight of Heart
(Full Time Hobby)
Herald Rating: * * * *
Verdict: Glasgow troubadour not quite as dour as before
His previous album, 2007's A Brighter Beat opened with the song We're All Going to Die, offered up Death Love Depression Love Death along the way and then closed with another feel-good number Cheer Down.
So to conclude that Malcolm Middleton has cheered up some on this one - his second solo set since the 2006 demise of his indie-folk outfit Arab Strap - isn't saying much.
But if this mini-album, an offshoot of A Brighter Beat with six originals and three covers (including Madonna's Stay), isn't quite as dour as its predecessor, it still offers some brilliantly bleak, dry-witted accounts of modern life. And does it with a beguiling minimum of fuss on songs that are mostly based around Middleton's broad accent of a singing voice and his robust finger-picked guitar.
He's at his bitter best when he's sulking about staying-in being the new going-out on Blue Plastic Bags, or contemplating what sounds like a savage lack of self-esteem on Total Belief.
But having dispensed with that Madonna track, as well as ones by King Creosote, he finally offers up his bruised heart in the bittersweet love song Hey You to finish. Grim but captivating.
Malcolm Middleton plays at the Kings Arms on Monday
