Robyn Hitchcock - Spooked

Genre rock Publisher Yep Roc Records External Links Robyn Hitchcock Yep Roc Records

Robyn Hitchcock, the silver haired poet and lead man of the influential Soft Boys, sings of "Hound dogs and bon-bons, cinemas and matelotes, honeycombs and principles, ocelots, and mere cats," on the song "Sometimes A Blonde" from his latest critically-acclaimed effort Spooked. The lyrical snippet is definitive of the stark imagery and deep forest metaphors found on the twelve-track album.

Hitchcock is a true artist. An accomplished painter, part-time actor, and sometimes short-story writer, he knows how to paint a vivid picture. His canvas on Spooked is the dark woods of alienation. Not empty, but rich with ravens and mere cats rustling in the trees. Hitchcock banishes the listener into that forest for not following societal norms, i.e. on the song, "Television," Hitchcock apologizes for turning off the telly. He sings of "Hobgoblins and ghouls, nostrils in skulls, and fungus in bones," on "Demons and Fiends," of "looking for the animal behind your eyes," on "Creeped Out," and feeding on "fat juicy worms and millipedes" on "We're Gonna Live in The Trees." Spooked gives off that darting eyed suspicion that something bad is about to happen.

Backed behind folkers Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Hitchcock delivers an acoustically dark record of songs owing greatly to Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind. Fresh off of an LP of Dylan interpretations on Robyn Sings, Hitchcock successfully covers "Trying to Get To Heaven Before They Close The Door," on Spooked. He sings Dylan lyrics like "I'm in the dinosaur's waiting room," but with his own elegant voice and phrasing.

Not to be completely dark-sided though, the songs "Full Moon in My Soul" and "Everybody Needs Love" sound as if Hitchcock swallows up a bucketful of moonbeams and shines a guiding light out of his dark spooky forest.

Robyn Hitchock's Spooked is an elegant recording of jittering songs for the psyche that will please Hitchcock fans everywhere. It's one of the year's best acoustic recordings.