Robyn Hitchcock: Luxor

Fans attending Robyn Hitchcock's 50th-birthday concert earlier this year were the first to hear his new album, Luxor: He distributed it as a party favor, which was re-gifting in the best sense. Hitchcock originally recorded the disc as a birthday present to himself, and though it's a quiet acoustic set, it also contains a touch of defiance. Nearly three decades into his career, Hitchcock uses Luxor to announce that he intends to continue singing about vegetables, insects, and death. And why quit Those subjects belong to him as surely as songs about driving belong to Bruce Springsteen. On Luxor, Hitchcock encapsulates the impossibility of a love affair in two lines: "She's got a thing about yams / I am not a yam." A quiet retreat after a now-defunct reunion with his punk-era band The Soft Boys, Luxor finds Hitchcock in a relaxed mood, which mostly suits him. More of a casual, back-porch session than his classic acoustic albums I Often Dream Of Trains and Eye, Luxor throws a few lighthearted uptempo tracks ("Ant Corridor," the bluesy "Maria Lyn") in between contemplative ballads. Some were apparently intended for the now-scratched second Soft Boys reunion disc. They sound just as appropriate here, though the moments that stick in the memory tend to be the quieter ones, like the gentle hall-of-mirrors "You Remind Me Of You." "Everyone is fading gradually," Hitchcock sings on "Round Song," before concluding with a simple "yeah." On Luxor, he sounds resigned to that inevitability, and determined to make the most of the long, slow fade that takes insects, eggplants, and eccentric singer-songwriters alike.