ROBYN HITCHCOCK - The Confuser

A new album by Robyn Hitchcock once again proves to be, dependably, an exquisite box of surprises. As unpredictable as it is surreal, the British musician celebrates fifty years of dazed psych-pop miniatures with an album whose title is as explanatory as it is finely ironic: "The Confuser", the one who confuses.
With his distinctive vocal timbre, in perfect harmony with the never-hidden influences of Syd Barrett, John Lennon and Bob Dylan, the former leader of the Soft Boys – yes, we'll keep mentioning them until their extraordinary artistic creativity is properly acknowledged – tackles themes of decline, aging and death. He does so, however, with bright, sparkling tones, sketching out an approach decidedly more inclined toward rock than his most recent work.
Recorded under the guidance of Brad Jones, "The Confuser" boasts a lineup of real substance: Jeremy Fetzer and former bandmate Kimberly Rew on guitars, Todd Bolden on bass, Eric Slick on drums and Gillian Welch on backing vocals on the track "Ghost In The Sunlight". Far removed from the cloying drifts of certain psychedelia of the '70s, Hitchcock's musical coordinates share their ethics and aesthetics with the harmonic digressions of R.E.M. or with the Beatles-esque instincts of bands like the Stone Roses. What stands out is that "The Confuser" turns out to be a deceptively accessible work.

Devoid of concessions to romanticism or to mere formal perfection, however impeccably it's performed, the album opens with the agile, sharp-witted rock'n'pop of "I Am This Thing", where Hitchcock casually declares: "I owe a lot to a dead man's dick", adding later "When I decompose I'll be part of everything". The album's closing track is no less striking: on "Wasted", music-hall sounds and honky-tonk shades frame a breezy melody that the author has said he wrote with Dean Martin in mind: "I've been here a long, long time, and I'm just exhausted, exhausted for you".
In between, Hitchcock keeps exploring the theme of transience to a funk'n'roll beat on "My Dead Astronaut", grapples with old age in the delightful psychedelic ballad "Breathless", and veers toward a dream-pop sound with glam shadings on the elegant "The Vanishing Kind", once again training his focus on the fleeting nature of life.
There's also room for a small poetic masterpiece like "Ghost In The Sunlight", a nostalgic and biting reflection on how past mistakes shape the future.

It's hardly a stretch to include Robyn Hitchcock among those artists who, this year, continue to display extraordinary vitality and artistic maturity in spite of their age (right alongside Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney or Deep Purple).
Just consider the punchy pop-punk of "Yesterday's Rain", with its clear Xtc imprint, the psychedelic funk of the arresting "Building From The Ruins" (one of the lyrically darkest tracks on offer), the rock and jangle-pop geometries of "How To Feel Alright", or the sing-along melody of the Beatles-esque "Monday For Me", to confirm the uniqueness of one of the most iconic figures in rock history.

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03/08/2026