Edwyn Collins – Understated

In a near forty-year career, Edwyn Collins has steadfastly tread his own path, seemingly oblivious to the wax and wane of popular culture. When fame has come a’knocking, it’s been on Collins’ terms, the junctures at which his guitar-driven pop has become vogue being pure happenstance.

Unsurprisingly then, eighth solo album Understated continues in this vein; a driven and focused collection of the somewhat timeless, shimmering yet scuzzy glam-indie that the Scottish songsmith has been honing since his tenure with Orange Juice. Imbued with a sense of ‘stopping to smell the flowers,’ it’s difficult not to draw parallels with the veteran performer’s well-documented health issues, yet it’s nothing quite so cloying.

In fact, Understated comes with a few prickly thorns to offset the fauna, notably the foot-stomping Too Bad (That’s Sad), which may well be the most upbeat ostensible break-up song of the year. Suck it up, breathe it in. [Darren Carle]