TIM BOWNESS
Stunning change of pace from maverick crooner.
Powder Dry KSCOPE
‘A damaged one-trick pony, whose trick is known too well,’
croons Tim Bowness on the haunted and haunting
This Way Now,
from his eighth solo album. His lyrics have never, across an expansive 37-year musical career, shied from grandiose self-flagellation. If, however, anybody has him pigeonholed as the master of epic melancholy, they’re in for a shock. Because
Powder Dry
is like nothing he’s done before. Perhaps it’s signing to a new label; perhaps it’s just a rush of
fresh inspiration. Even Steven Wilson, longtime pal and No-Man colleague, has said it’s “the best and most creative” album the singer’s made, emphasising that (while mixed by Wilson) it was produced and performed entirely by Bowness. He’s shown off a flock of impressive guest stars on previous albums, so this really does feel like a reset, a confessional, almost a purging.