"The Shape Of History" is Wendy James' new release

"You don't come here to be comfortable, you come here to be excited," sings Wendy James at the top of her new album.
But if that sounds like a warning to brace yourself for more of the pouty provocation that defined James' Transvision Vamp days, then what follows may surprise you. The Wendy James of 2024 is an older, wiser and far more intriguing prospect-one who long ago stopped relying on other (male) songwriters to put words in her mouth.
Take that opening track, Sweet Like Love. Having promised excitement, it wrongfoots the listener by delivering what sounds like the overture to a West End musical, one that showcases James' impressive vocals against a shifting time signature which defies all logic, and is none the worse for that.

A Happy Life continues in a similarly eccentric vein, with James offering useful self-care advice about keeping promises to yourself and reflecting how "Time humbles all of us", while album highlight Everything Is Magic is a gorgeous, rolling and rumbling saloon bar piano ballad that sounds like a sweeter Nick Cave - perhaps because Bad Seeds drummer Jim Sclavunos is behind the kit.

Much of The Shape Of History conjures a summery 1960s, yé-yé pop vibe, while the jazzy drums and fluting vocals of This Declaration Of Love are pure Burt Bacharach. Which isn't to say James has lost all of her former swagger: The Crack And The Boom Of The Creeps And The Goons, with its talk of "Some tits here, a little ass there", and the discordant Step Aside Roadkill are big, dirty rockers, while Do You Dig It? Do You Love It? Is It Groovy? is a propulsive slice of Krautrock with shades of Stereolab's French Disko.

Does it all hang together? Not entirely: bonkers EDM blowout Freedomsville remains a baffling choice of lead single But it's never dull, and certainly never predictable.

(Paul Kirkley - Classic Pop - 10/2024)