Bearing in mind many considered Graham Coxon the main creative force behind Blur, his solo career has so far been massively disappointing. As an artist in his own right Coxon’s main problems (and they’re only minor points) seem to have been that he can’t sing or write lyrics.

With this, his seventh effort, we find Coxon side-stepping the singing issue with a gentler, more folky, Nick
Drake-esque vocal style. And it works.

Efforts to sing punk on previous solo records left the Blur guitarist sounding like a fourteen year old in his first garage band.

On The Spinning Top the soft, tender vocals are matched by a whimsical, finger-picking guitar style that’s even more reminiscent of Drake. The record is a concept album, telling the story of a man’s life from birth to death. Pretentious? Maybe, but it seems to work – kind of - at times even feeling like Coxon may have finally found his true voice.

3 out of 5

Michael Wylie-Harris