On his tenth album, the UK singer-songwriter gives his own, surprisingly fresh take on events both past and present.
Americana isn’t exactly a genre known for its up-to-date commentary on things like pop culture and the ever-changing technological landscape, but a quick glance at the track listing of Vinny Peculiar’s 10th studio album, The Curse of You Know Who, shows that he’s keen to challenge that notion. Striking titles like Katy Perry in Space and AI Girlfriend prove that he has his finger on the pulse, but fear not, he has plenty more to offer than the novelty of the titles might suggest.
If the jangling prog rock style guitars weren’t enough of a giveaway, Peculiar demonstrates with the lyrics on album opener The Curse that he’s not frightened of dropping some more old school references into his songs – Charles Bukowski, Dada and the New Romantics all making the cut – while he makes wry observations on art and life. Billy Liar is a joyful, postmodern tribute to the Keith Waterhouse novel and the 1963 film of the same name, Julie Christie and Tom Courtenay both name dropped, the later recounted as being “charming” and “lovely” when Peculiar told him how much he loved the movie.
As far as Perry’s much maligned space expedition goes, Peculiar pulls zero punches on the titular song: “Katy Perry’s on the news / On every screen in every home,” he sings drolly, not fooled that the popstar did it for any reason other than her own personal gain, later adding that “[She] doesn’t have a role / She doesn’t have a clue / She’s only there for the ride / She’s admiring the view”. AI Girlfriend is another song with a stomper of an art-rock beat where he sings of having a virtual assistant girlfriend named Elaine whom he decides not to inform his wife about. The relationship moves to them going “on a date”, which he concedes is “technically cheating” but he goes regardless. As silly as this all may sound, he’s got enough sense to keep his tongue firmly in his cheek admitting he knows “this sounds rather far-fetched”, but still ending with his hope for the future given that Elaine has told him her “unique intelligent software is transferable if a robot doll”.
Wormhole finds Peculiar targeting The S*n and the people who get sucked into writing for and reading it, while Flat Earth finds Brian Cox and Tim Peake podcasting from the space station as they search for answers. “Osmond’s on the radio / Mr Rigsby on TV,” Peculiar sets the 1973 scene on Runcorn Abduction, the fanciful tale of a young woman taken by aliens in Runcorn more than half a century ago. New Dark Ages is a love letter to the ways and things of the past, as varied as objects like a 2003 era iPod and an Ordnance Survey map, with a subtle wink to Bob Dylan when Peculiar sings “Say hello to the new dark ages / Say goodbye to my back pages”. Moon Landing fondly recalls the watching of the event on television at school, and how it gave thoughts of how fantastical the future might be.
It must be hard to stay fresh after almost 20 years of making albums, but The Curse of You Know Who feels of-the-moment without seeming like Peculiar is trying to grasp onto trends to boost his Spotify algorithm. As eye-catching as some of the titles might seem, the songs have a real wit and depth of thought behind them, a task which often seems easier when recalling nostalgia over looking at the present and beyond. So here’s to whatever the future might bring – be it self-driving cars, humanoid robots or AI consciousness – and let’s hope Peculiar is around to make sense of it all in his own unique way.
