The band reconvened at Weller's Black Barn studio in Surrey when restrictions were lifted to finish the work with the shape of the album becoming clear to all.įat Pop (Volume 1) – Paul adding the 'Volume 1' to keep options open for a second volume in the future - is a diverse selection of sounds. Despite it being strange not being together, it kept the wheels rolling and sanity prevailing.

With many ideas for new songs stored on his phone, Paul started to record them on his own with just vocals, piano and guitar which he'd send to his core band members (drummer Ben Gordelier, Steve Cradock on guitar and bassist Andy Crofts) to add their parts. It's an absolute scorcher.ĭuring spring last year, after his tour dates were postponed, Paul Weller needed something else to focus on. It's not hyperbole to state that this new album, titled Fat Pop (Volume 1), is among his most compelling collections. Just like back then, Weller continues to thrive by doing exactly as he pleases.On May 14th, Paul Weller releases his 16th solo album since his self-titled debut in 1992, which comes in just under twelve months following June 2020's magnificent, chart-topping On Sunset. Things end with Still Glides The Stream, a cultured, mournful lament about a man who “knows what his public wanted”, a wistful echo of Going Underground 40 years ago. The soulful ballads are particularly affecting: the sweeping strings of The Pleasure – a response to Black Lives Matter – and the glittering Glad Times pull at the heart with its Dexys-ish brass, In Better Time is among the most beautiful songs he’s written. There are other flutters of experimentation – the title track is an unfastened groove that struts like Ian Dury on a mystical funk trip – but it’s the simple melodic strength that binds the songs together. Lean, precise and purposeful, its 12 tracks whistle by in little more than 35 minutes its production, in keeping with the limitations of lockdown, is deliberately pared down. He called in some favours, too: Hannah Peel, who worked on 2018’s True Meanings, adds strings to the perky, acoustic Cobweb/Connections his daughter Leah wrote the chorus and sings on the soulful piano-pop Shade Of Blue.

Going “potty” at home, Weller wrote songs on piano and guitar, sending fragments of tracks back-and-forth to his long-serving band. He brings that same abandon to Fat Pop, a stylistically diverse set destined to be known as his lockdown record. His fanbase, a sizeable contingent of whom wish Weller still sounded like he looks. He seems admirably unconcerned about the thoughts of

The earnest trad-rock cul-de-sac he ventured down in the late 90s has long since given way to a fertile period of daring, artistically varied records. It’s a whirlwind opening that says everything about Weller’s current boldness. True then takes even less time to rhythmically clatter into view, strike up a call-and-response vocal with Lia Metcalfe of The Mysterines, bark its chorus, drift into a jazz-soul breakdown and screech out a guitar solo before grinding to a halt. Opener Cosmic Fringes sees a robotic-sounding Weller armed with a synth and channelling Scary Monsters-era Bowie, powering through in just over two minutes. It begins with the sense of a man in a hurry. As if to prove the point, less than 12 months later comes another full-length, Fat Pop (Volume 1). On the press trail for last year’s chart-topping On Sunset, Paul Weller was asked to explain what has prompted his now decade-plus splurge of late-career adventurism.

Paul weller fat pop review