Malcolm Middleton – Into The Woods (Chemikal Underground) album review

The uncertain tone is set from the off. "I'll sell my guitar/Get an education," sings sometime Arab Strap chap Malcolm Middleton hopefully on the inappropriately jaunty 'Break My Heart' – "I'd rather have you/Than sing these shit songs". This unexpected attack of rational thought is capsized rapidy: "I’ll fuck my guitar/And I’ll drink myself dead/I’ll be an education". While shifting itchily in his own skin, Middleton seems more comfortable than Strapping colleague Aidan Moffat with crafting digestible tunes. But the real strength of Into The Woods, Middleton's markedly happier follow-up to 2004's perverse 5:14 Fluoxytine Seagull Alcohol John Nicotine, is his unabashed candour colliding with the aforementioned melodic flair. Current single 'Loneliness Shines' is but a winsome taster: go down to the woods today.

Charlie Ivens

originally appeared in The Fly magazine, June 2005 issue