ON opener Here I Am In London Town, as Ricky Ross tells us how he’s waiting for the world to begin again, it’s like Deacon Blue have never been away.
Ross’ voice still has that odd, slightly broken drawl; slow and heavy with anticipation and yearning, this could have come from their 1987 debut Raintown.
Worryingly, the marching, string-heavy title track sounds like Coldplay have hijacked the studio for three-and-a-half minutes.
Stars, with its piano arpeggio, heads in the same direction before an offbeat hook and Lorraine McIntosh’s backing vocals bring things unmistakably back into Deacon Blue territory.
As ever, McIntosh and Ross’ harmonies are key.
At its best, on tracks like, The Outsiders and Laura From Memory, The Hipsters is good as anything they’ve done.
Richard Lewis
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