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Patrick Wolf

4/5
The Bachelor
Patrick Wolf begins his latest record with an overture. He did the same with his pop breakout and last release, The Magic Position (indeed, the opening track of that album was even called ‘Overture’.) It’s a significant move for the British singer-songwriter as he constructs his own modern, hyper-dramatic rock symphonies.

Wolf can be almost comically emotive; his low, sad croon evokes Robert Smith. On ‘Hard Times’, a Dickensian tip of the hat, Wolf emerges through a cloud of electronics and cascading string sections to deliver a simultaneously heart-breaking and stirring summation of the present day’s travails. In the process he introduces a new genre: inspirational goth.

The Bachelor is the first disc of a double album; the first movement in a two-part symphony. Its complement, The Conqueror, is due next year. The record doesn’t feel like half of anything, though. It’s a complete look at loneliness and love that calls upon Wolf’s nearly endless talents: he plays the organ, harp, violin, accordion and many other instruments, piping it all through complicated electronic streams. Some of the largest moments come on the biblical ‘Damaris’, where, toward the end, a choir chants ‘rise up’ and Wolf joins in. A call to the afterlife, the chorus aptly describes his sagas; they move just like Heaven.
Colin St John
Available at www.7digital.com.