In typical unassuming fashion Paul Heaton claimed in a recent BBC interview that he was "not a great one for experimentation".
On paper, The 8th, his ambitious theatrical piece billed as a song cycle in eight chapters, or a 'soul opera' if you prefer, and commissioned by The Manchester International Festival gives a lie to that statement.
However, closer analysis of the eight songs (plus Coda) reveals that the sweet soul and socially conscious pop is not so very far removed from Heaton's work with The Housemartins, The Beautiful South and as a solo artist.
His socialist principles are still evident with capitalists defined as the enemy through their smug 'I'm all right jack' philosophy and "history of giving zero slack" to society's poorer and less fortunate citizens.
Between the tunes is a story narrated like a series of mini sermons by Reg E Cathey (who played political campaign manager Norman Wilson in HBO's The Wire).
These spoken word parts of a man learning from his sinful and violent past were written by English actor/playwright Che Walker and feature characters like Officer Pork-Pork and Fat Alice. Though not penned by Heaton, they deploy a similar register to his favourite black American crime writers like Clarence Cooper Jr, Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines.
We hear of the brutal murder of a man with a Strawberry-Type Birthmark ("like a slave master's brand") and other Americanisms like "squad cars", "blades", "penitentiary", "snitch", "pay roll" sit uneasily alongside Heaton's own, very English, lyrics.
Each song is about one of the seven deadly sins and performed by different singers. We hear Hull based Country singer Mike Greaves (Pride); gospel singer, Yvonne Shelton (Sloth); the soul voice of Wayne Gidden (Lust) and Simon Aldred (Greed) of the Manchester Indie band Cherry Ghost.
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Scotland is represented by singer/songwriter Aaron Wright (Wrath) sounding disturbingly like Robbie Williams and Fence Collective royalty King Creosote (Gluttony) sounding like he's gate crashed the wrong party.
Beautiful South fans are advised to skip directly to Envy which is sung by ex-BS vocalist Jacqui Abbott and is by some distance the album's best song.
Heaton make a cameo appearance to reveal the final, 8th 'sin' of gossip: a track which features some misplaced Ska rhythms and self consciously 'urban' lyrics about "hypodermic streets".
The themes of street crime, social inequality and broader concepts of morality are topical in the wake of last year's street riots in Britain. Biblical references add dramatic weight to the story although since Heaton is an atheist we can be assured that these are not part of any sinister religious agenda.
The project is a bold one and could have been an outright disaster. It succeeds insofar that the self indulgent aspects are balanced by Heaton's lack of pretentiousness. Having said that, the actual songs leave much to be desired so the project works better as a theatrical concept than a musical one.
Paul Heaton's website
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