BILLY BRAGG
The Million Things That Never Happened COOKING VINYL
7/10
Bragg’s 10th studio album makes the most of isolation
The Million Things… is billed as a work of “post-pandemic blues”. That description shows a characteristic self-deprecating wryness, but Bragg’s latest does deftly articulate the anxiety and claustrophobia of upset and confinement. He’s honest about uncertainties both personal and political – to the extent, on “Mid-Century Modern”, of wondering aloud if he should cede his spot on the stage. The album as a whole engenders gratitude that he hasn’t. The countrysoul sound Bragg has arrived at suits such poised ballads as “Lonesome Ocean” and the title track, and his folkish roots are gleefully disinterred on the waspish Phil Ochs-esque fable of “Freedom Doesn’t Come For Free”.