The chamber orchestral backing of soft strings, rolling piano and winding oboe provide a subtle backing to Hussey’s dewy-eyed croon on ‘Madam G’, the track that introduces Wayne Hussey’s latest solo offering. It certainly sets the album off to an unexpected start, and it’s pleasing to hear Hussey trying something different and succeeding. Moreover, while his 2008 album ‘Bare’ contained revamped and alternative takes on Mission songs and a selection of covers, ‘Songs of Candlelight and Razor Blades ‘ is a set of new compositions, and as such could be considered his first solo outing proper. He makes a decent fist of it, too.
The swirling mystical folk of ‘JK Angel of Death’ is darkly atmospheric and ‘Swan Song’ finds Wayne in a reflective and mood. Unfortunately, it also finds him falling into the worst of his lyrical troughs, in the way only Wayne Hussey can do, by pressing together a succession of clichés into an extended metaphor that ought to have been strangled or drowned: ‘Don’t sing me a swan song, baby / There’s still gas left in this tank / it ain’t over till it’s over / until the fat lady sings / it ain’t over till it’s over / until the swan spreads its wings.’ Still, it just wouldn’t be his work without some seriously cringey clunkers, and besides, elsewhere he redeems himself with some moments of delightful (and almost uncharacteristic) eloquence.
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The Zeppelinesque trappings of the 12-string acoustic folk rock of ‘You Are Not Alone’ are familiar territory, but rather more unexpectedly, ‘Wither on the Vine’ has echoes of ‘First And Last And Always’ era Sisters of Mercy and The Cure circa 1984: the guitar chime at the start a direct rerun of that which opens ‘Marianne’. The solid beat and insistent bassline only add to the effect.
On balance, it’s a decent album, and while it’s certainly a long way from recapturing The Mission in their heyday, shows that Hussey’s still got something to offer beyond mere nostalgia and has in fact got some worthwhile songs up his sleeve.
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