Album review

• DUKE SPECIAL
• I Never Thought This Day Would Come
• Universal Music Ireland
• 

From Illinois to Culleybacky, Co Antrim, Duke Special (aka Peter Wilson) has fashioned a follow-up to his multi-platinum selling Songs from the Deep Forest.

I Never Thought… resonates with equal amounts of musical cajoling and lyrical honesty. The mood throughout is rather more sombre. Just check out the song titles for proof (Mockingbird Wish Me Luck, Those Proverbs We Made in the Winter Must End, Why Does Anybody Love?, By the Skin of My Teeth, Nothing Comes Easy, Nothin' You Can Do Can Bring Me Around). Still, the music is several steps above even Special's fastidious methods.
Not even the ska-driven jauntiness of Digging an Early Grave can take away from the overall sense of morbidity and foreboding that, curiously, never threatens to spoil the listening pleasure. This could be because Wilson has, over the course of three albums, engineered the knack of mixing dispiriting topics with a surefooted musical approach that never undermines the content.

Some people don't get Duke Special. They are put off by his appearance, which resembles a blend of Catweazle, a Grafton Street busker and the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. They're also confused by his music, which owes as much to burlesque and music hall as it does to pop. Those who can't see beyond these superficialities miss the most important aspect of Wilson's work: his forensic attention to detail.

So forget the gender-skewing dreadlocks and eyeliner. Here is a guy who matches the lost art of the popular song with the found sound of swirling pop/rock and symphony orchestras. With a bit of Bridie Gallagher thrown in for good Irish measure (that'll be the title track, then). www.dukespecial.com

TONY CLAYTON-LEA