RUSTIN MAN
CLOCKDUST
DOMINO RECORDS
★★★★
Paul Webb’s second solo album arrives unexpectedly hot on the heels of last year’s beguiling Drift Code, his first release since Out Of Season, a 2002 collaboration with Portishead’s Beth Gibbons. Adding poignancy, it follows the sudden passing last February of his Talk Talk colleague, Mark Hollis, whose work – perhaps not surprisingly – Webb’s own sometimes recalls. On the introspective Gold And Tinsel, for instance, its largely acoustic nature and his gentle mumble are suggestive of Hollis’ only solo LP, while mid-album instrumental Rubicon Song is awash in strange reverberations that’ll remind older fans of The Colour Of Spring’s most extreme moments. Webb’s very much his own man, though, his voice generally only comparable to Robert Wyatt’s, his arrangements often appealingly peculiar.