English Weather: A Brief Review Of Time On Earth, The New Album From Pete Astor (The Loft, The Weather Prophets)

There's something elementally pure about the music of Pete Astor. While he was a pioneer of British jangle-pop (for lack of a better term), leading bands like The Loft and The Weather Prophets to, if not fame, at least worldwide respect from a host of fans, he also maintained a style of songwriting that favored direct compositions. His new record, Time on Earth, came out this week on Tapete and it's one of his best, most consistent records to date. It reminds me of Leonard Cohen, oddly, though Pete is hardly as dour.

And yet there are some serious subjects covered here. "Undertaker" unfurls with a slight twang, the lyrics assessing the end with the matter-of-factness of an old country song, while "Stay Lonely" conveys yearning with warmth and frankness. Elsewhere, the title cut, with its jaunty hook and organ swirls, is catchy and bright, even as "New Religion" uses New Wave keys to great effect. On this one, Pete's delivery made me think of Hugh Cornwell a bit, and there's not a huge distance between something like this and "Skin Deep" from the Eighties Stranglers. "English Weather" and the elegant "Soft Switch" map our territory that to these ears feels similar to that of Astor's peer Luke Haines. However, the misanthropy that fuels so much of the best Auteurs guy's solo recordings isn't found here. Astor's disposition seems to be a good deal sunnier, even when the subject matter is serious.

The directness of Pete Astor's craft and the chops of his backing band here reach a kind of high point on "Fine and Dandy", the album closer. Ian Button (Wreckless Eric, Death in Vegas, Papernut Cambridge), Andy Lewis (Spearmint, Paul Weller), and Neil Scott (Everything But the Girl, Denim) give what sounds like a tribute to the late Pat Fish (The Jazz Butcher) tremendous heft and pep. The cut, with lyrics that are clever and heartfelt, rides a fine hook forward, and the melody lingers in the memory. It's the sort of song you want to play a few more times before you check out the album again. The selections on Time on Earth are all like that. These are wonderfully self-contained, concise compositions, with Astor wasting nothing in either lyrical efforts or musical ones to convey mood and emotion. Then again, he's always done that, hasn't he? There are different styles here, but these compositions are not too different, really, from "Almost Prayed" and "Up The Hill and Down The Slope", to these ears. While his peers were amping up, or figuring out what effects pedals to plug in, Pete Astor was sharpening his skills at writing a song. And Time on Earth contains some of his very best in years.

Time on Earth is out now on Tapete Records.

[Photo: Elena Ferreras Carreras]