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"Although “Powder Dry” is not spared a few long stretches, Tim Bowness remains true to his recipe and offers himself a little more darkness."
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4/5
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At the age of 60, Tim Bowness remains a rock-art forçat. “Powder Dry”, his eighth solo album, was all the more eagerly awaited. Indeed, since 2014, the Englishman has never let more than two years go by between the release of two albums (and we're only talking about his solo albums here!). After “Butterfly Mind”, released in 2022, 2024 was therefore guaranteed to be the year of a new vintage, but will it be a vintage to be savored without moderation?
Lovers of the Englishman's icy charms will find themselves like fish in water. The music is melancholy, full of atmospheric flavor ('When Summer Comes' and 'This Way Now' are the most representative of the Englishman's style). Tim's voice hovers above with the detached wisdom of a man who constantly reminds us of a memory everyone else seems to have forgotten ('Ghost Of A Kiss'). And this description applies to all his previous albums: the artist has a signature that is instantly recognizable, and rarely deviates from his formula.
However, “Powder Dry” reveals a darker side, as if Tim Bowness had left his cosy cocoon (which he has already allowed himself to do on a handful of albums). The incisive electro rhythms and relentless drumming are sharp right from the start on 'Rock Hudson'. Idiots At Large' and 'Powder Dry' take us by surprise, and 'I Was There' keeps the momentum going. On the other hand, 'You Can Always Disappear', like a distant echo of Nick Cave's 'The Carny', leaves the tension hanging without ever exploding. Against this darkness, 'Summer Turned' brings a colorful balance with its willing and engaging backing vocals, and 'Films Of Your Youth' evokes a sunrise over a landscape reminiscent of Popol Vuh music.
The voice remains the same, but the monotony seems to have been overcome by a greater fragility. The (primal?) scream is still too repressed, and we have to wait a little longer to hear Tim Bowness wander through the gardens of madness in the way that Peter Hammill does so well. With a running time of 39 minutes, “Powder Dry” is nevertheless organized according to a puzzling logic. Of the sixteen tracks on the album, only two are longer than three minutes. Some tracks, such as “Old Crawler” and its army of atomic violins or the world-music “Heartbreak”, give the impression of fading out prematurely and would have deserved better treatment. Conversely, the longest track, 'A Stand Up For Diying', is unnecessarily drawn out, and the last two tracks have an air of déjà-entendu about them.
On this, his eighth album, Tim Bowness remains true to his writing style, while offering us the preliminaries of his battle with the beast within. A good vintage that is, however, plagued by a myriad of short tracks and a few long stretches. See you in 2025 at the earliest. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Rock Hudson - 2:03
02. Lost / Not Lost - 2:09
03. When Summer Comes - 2:59
04. Idiots At Large - 2:50
05. A Stand-Up For The Dying - 4:57
06. Old Crawler - 1:18
07. Heartbreak Notes - 1:33
08. Ghost Of A Kiss - 1:36
09. Summer Turned - 2:06
10. You Can Always Disappear - 2:36
11. Powder Dry - 2:38
12. Films Of Our Youth - 1:30
13. This Way Now - 2:20
14. I Was There - 4:09
15. The Film Of Your Youth - 2:17
16. Built To Last - 2:32
LINEUP:
Tim Bowness: Chant / Guitares / Basse / Claviers / Batterie
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IN RELATION WITH TIM BOWNESS
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