Del Amitri - Fatal Mistakes - (Softpak) - [CD]

Throughout their entire career, Del Amitri have mastered the art of timeless, melodically focused pop rock. Frontman Justin Currie comments on their seventh album: "Recorded over three weeks in March in a country house in deep England, 'Fatal Mistakes' is the Dels' first studio album since' Can You Do Me Good '. Everyone had a good time. It's a bizarre collection of stories powered by guitars, drums and keyboards played entirely by the quintet we toured great tours with in 2014 and 2018. 'Close Your Eyes and Think of England' is our European farewell, a ballad of pure bile and remorse, sweetened with a sledge hammer of sarcasm." The result is the brilliant sound of a 35-year-old band that does what it does best: melodic rock songs with a lyrical bite, soulful comfort and a refreshing buoyancy. You can hear that in the lament "Close Your Eyes And Think of England" and also in the hook of "It's Feelings," with Currie's soulful, scratchy voice that hits the alternative radio vibe of the 90s. And it resonates in the driving power pop of the album opener "You Can't Go Back." This contrasts with the fragile, painful "Lonely," a song that lives through it's emptiness and is peppered with CSNY-style harmonies. The song feels different than anything the band has done before.