• This is the 13th studio album from Chuck Prophet, an artist that has released a long line of high quality albums (notably 2012’s Temple Beautiful), can he do it again? The album starts strongly with ‘Countrified Inner City Technological Man’. It starts sounding like either ‘Keep on running’ or ‘I am the resurrection’, a classic drum beat that then leads into a Rolling Stones (complete with cow bell) style jaunt. The song’s lyrics are political and show a scepticism towards surveillance and religion…topical, yet quite obvious. The catchiness of the chorus cannot be denied, and it is a great opener.

If you didn’t know Chuck Prophet it would be obvious from listening that he has been at this songwriting lark a while. The songs are all self assured and the band are tight. You can hear Bob Dylan and Tom Petty in the crafting of the songs, the structuring of the songs is sublime. Lyrically, the album is less cocksure, the anxieties with modern life are apparent throughout, and this is refreshing and gives Chuck a sense of vulnerability not afforded by the instrumentation. Other highlights include ‘Tell Me Anything(Turn to Gold)’ and the album’s last track, ‘Love Is the Only Thing’. The latter starts with a drum solo and lyrically the song is a fitting end to an album of ups and downs.