For all the guff you read about THE DEARS' frontman Murray Lightburn being the "black Morrissey", there's no doubting he's one of the most fascinating frontmen of recent times. A troubled, charismatic soul who's previously battled drink, drugs and religious issues, his chequered career of false starts and disappointments over the past five years or so finally hit glorious paydirt with the sublime "No Cities Left" last year, with that delectable album easing its' way onto many a Best of 2004 listing into the bargain.
"22: The Death Of All Romance," we are informed, is the final slice of mystery-dripping wonder to be severed from the mothership, but we'll find it difficult to let go of the album when we're - again reminded - of its' quality via songs like this. Because, make no mistake, "22..." is another typically exquisite, chromatic slice of loveliness, which comes on like neo-Motown-meets-The Smiths-meets Jacques Brel. This time, Murray duets with keyboardist (and rumoured main squeeze) Natalia Yanchek, and as soon as he sings "I was 22, I've had my share of blues, I just can't take that happiness from you" you've succumbed. Yes indeed: it's another of those special, impossible dream-chasing affairs and while you know they're doomed from the start, you're still with them all the way. Pulse-racingly gorgeous and then some, you might say.
Stick around for the two new B-sides as well, because they're up and down with "22." "Autotomy" is the first, and - if possible - it's an even darker shade of fatal romance, initially coming on with faux trip-hop overtones. It's a tremulous, hypnotic encounter with cellos and lonely pianos colouring in the background and Murray wringing every cent out of the "You've got my soul, I've got your heart" chorus. It's typically swoony, but takes off mid-way with the kind of lustful intensity we've come to love from The Dears.
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The closing "C'Etait Pour La Passion" ain't no slouch, neither. This one's poppier, with a swirly abandon, glassy-eyed carnival organ and Peter Hook-ish, high end basslines powering it along. It's a tad lighter in hue, but nonetheless instilled with Lightburn's usual grand designs. As with "Autotomy" it's a killer in reserve and that it can be squandered as a meagre B-side suggests that confidence must be at an all-time high in The Dears camp right now.
Anyway, be that as it may, with Montreal's finest we have that 'indie'-related rarity: a band with scope and ambition who clearly have no interest in accepting second best. That's a first-rate attitude in itself and even if Murray Lightburn should end up in the gutter, he'll always be gazing at the stars. Hear music like this and you'd like to pull them out of the sky for him.
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