Jocular polymath John Mitchell (producer, writer, band leader) has, it appears, come down to earth with a bang; Lonely Robot’s fourth album is less lost among the stars and more down-at-heel-at home.
Since the so-called Astronaut Trilogy (the band’s first three albums), Mitchell has climbed out from his spacesuit to reveal the human beneath.
Beautifully realised and arranged, lush and atmospheric and stuffed with songs, it suggests, on the contrary, that perhaps some feelings are best boxed away and put out of sight.
It’s in the great tradition of heartbreak records, admittedly one burnished sparklingly bright with pop-tones production.
That said, you can still hear the heartache and turmoil, the lament-filled nights, in the fragility of songs like The Silent Life and the fever dream that is Spiders.
