Graham Coxon - The Spinning Top

Opening with a Nick Drake homage and proceeding in a folky vein, The Spinning Top finds Coxon having abandoned the pop-punk modes of his previous two solo albums in favour of a series of predominantly acoustic compositions. With its extended hypnotic motifs, somniferous vocalisations and pretty-but-skewed melodies, the figure of Syd Barrett looms large, and for the most part it's a joy to hear Coxon once again embracing his own peculiarities. The album only falters when his influences overpower him, and there is an air of dilettantism that lingers for the album's duration. However, when Coxon gets it right he proves himself capable of producing some of the most singular gems: If You Want Me is a slow-burning sardonic standout that will etch itself into your subconscious, while closing track November will leave you genuinely dumbstruck - the kind of aching, elegiac masterpiece you never knew he had in him. [Mark Shukla]