TRACK REVIEW: Baxter Dury - Slumlord

TRACK REVIEW:

Baxter Dury

Slumlord

9.4/10

The track, Slumlord, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWbVIv7DrU8

GENRES:

New Wave/Alternative Pop

ORIGIN:

London, U.K.

RELEASE DATE:

19th November, 2019

LABELS:

2020 LE LABEL – (PIAS)/Heavenly Records

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THIS time around…

I am featuring an artist that I have been meaning to cover in some way for a long time. I know I say that about a lot of artists, but I think Baxter Dury is one of the most interesting songwriters around. I want to cover a few topics in this review but, before I do, I want to address the fact that, obviously, here is the song of the late Ian Dury. Ian Dury is one of these songwriters that still sounds incredible today. I will touch on this more when I talk about Baxter Dury but, in a sea of artists where very few have a striking lyrical and vocal style, Ian Dury was a marvel. I love the fact he had so much wit and was not a conventional songwriter. His music with The Blockheads is constantly inspiring and there is nobody around like him. That was true until Baxter Dury released his debut album, Len Parrot's Memorial Lift, in 2002. I think it can be hard standing on your own if you are the child of a famous artist. People will always compare, and they will expect you to do what your mum or dad did. Ian Dury was an original and he left us with some truly brilliant music. Baxter Dury does not have a shadow, but one can easily see comparisons between him and his dad. The vocal sound is quite similar, and the way Baxter Dury can stretch language and pen these odd-yet-relatable songs is a trademark of his old man. Baxter Dury definitely has his own style and voice, but I have heard so many people compare him to Ian Dury without actually listening to the music. I wanted to bring this subject up because, inevitably, those with well-known musician parents always have to prove themselves in a sense; you cannot get away with people comparing and trying to draw links.

I think Baxter Dury is in a great position because he has that incredible D.N.A. Rather than come onto the scene as another boring and predictable songwriter, he approaches songs from this very unexpected and wonderful space; able to write songs like nobody else. Ian Dury was a huge influence on his son, and I can only imagine the Dury household would have been filled with laughter, incredible music and creativity. A lot of artists grow up around music and art, but Baxter Dury looked up this man who was, at one point, at the cutting edge; an artist who compelled and seduced like nobody else. It can be daunting going into music with the Dury name, as many might expect a repeat of Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Instead, Dury has taken strands and little bits and pieces from his dad, yet he has his own angles and perspective. I will dedicate the rest of this review purely to the younger Dury, but if you have not heard music by Ian Dury, do take a listen because it is sensational. So refreshing, even in the 1970s, to hear a singer-songwriter who was that original. Listen to the Dury’s debut album, New Boots and Panties!!, of 1977 as it is a work of genius. The Blockheads are still going but, since their leader died in 2000, it has not quite been the same. Some might say having a musician father is an unfair advantage, but Baxter Dury, as I said, will always be compared and sort of has to step out on his own terms. I shall leave this point alone – lest I ramble too much -, but I am glad there is new Baxter Dury music out. His current album, Prince of Tears, was released in 2017 and was one of my favourites of the year. This year has been a great one for music, yet I have been hankering for a certain type of song; music that makes you smile and provokes the imagination – here comes Baxter Dury!

PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Beard

I will bring in a couple of interview samples later in this review, but I wanted to talk about Baxter Dury’s lyrical and vocal style. Like Ian Dury, there is a distinct accent and personality he gives to music. Baxter Dury uses words in a way I have not heard in anyone else. In a way, he is like an artist painting something quite abstract. Listen to songs on Prince of Tears, and one gets all these wonderful visions and phrases. Miami is a key example from that album of what Dury can do. He doesn’t so much as sing as narrate the track. In many ways, Dury is almost an actor who orates. I do think a lot of songs can get lost or lose their edge because the composition is too crowded or the vocal is too rushed and big. Like a caramel-toned audiobook, Baxter Dury tells these stories and allows the words to breathe and explore. His deep and commanding voice holds so much nuance and character. One listens to his songs and you are engrossed in these strange scenes and wonderful dreams. Baxter Dury has released music videos, but I feel the traditional formats do not really do justice to his songs. His music is so vivid and imaginative, I wonder whether he will produce a sort of mini-film or bring his music to life in another way. His tracks are so interesting and different, I feel they could translate to the small screen or one could watch a film of them. That might be going too far; what I mean is that one listens to a Baxter Dury song and you are carried off and explore the tracks in a way you wouldn’t with any other artist. I do think there are too many artists who write cliché lines and lack necessary interest. One comes back to Baxter Dury’s music because it is unusual and fresh. His voice alone carries so much wonder, one is helpless to resist it.

IN THIS PHOTO: B.E.D.

Maybe the more talk-singing sound is not to everyone’s taste; I feel it perfect. On Prince of Tears, artists like Rose Elinor Dougall and Madelaine Hart provided backing vocals that added different emotions and a nice balance. One cannot envisage Baxter Dury spending dedicated hours writing music and struggling over his craft. There is this feeling of flow; a man who has this incredible imagination and just sort of lets his mind take him where it needs to go. The songs have this stream-of-consciousness vibe that makes them so appealing and alluring. I want to bring in an interview he gave fairly recently, where he was discussing his role in B.E.D. - http://heavenlyrecordings.com/artist/b-e-d/ - Etienne De Crécy and Delilah Holiday perform alongside him. Whereas Dury’s solo work is quite confessional, there is a beauty and sense of emotion provided by his cohorts that takes his craft to another level. In the interview, Dury was asked about his process:

“Do you have a notebook full of writing to go from?

No – I never write anything down. Maybe the odd bits and bobs but I’m much better at instantaneous words – I find it better that way, I find it more interesting. Because if you start thinking about it too much, trying to rhyme interesting words with other interesting words, when you start becoming this person that you think is wordy, and you construct stories based on the words you think you know. And you can really sense stories orientated by words, y’know, its awful. You start writing songs like you’re writing a James May novel, you sound like James May, fucking awful.

So I find this more beat poetry thing sometimes works, though sometimes it doesn’t. But I don’t know where it comes out of.

You just do it straight off the bat?

Quite a lot of the time yeah. I can just wing em out. I don’t know where they come from, it’s pretty weird.

Because of the characters you play in your songs do people have certain assumptions when they meet you?

I think people think you are a dark sorcerer with bags of opium but unfortunately I’m not. You create a character don’t you? I’m opium Rasputin meets – I don’t know. I’m not that but its good fun to pretend to be that for that time. Maybe people are let down by how normal I am”.

I am going to get to my review soon but, as I like to do with these reviews, I approach an artist from different angles and explore more than the song itself. I think it is important to unwrap and dissect an artist, because they are as important as the music. One can only get a certain sense of an artist from traditional reviews. I would not suggest everyone pen a long review for every artist, but I am interested getting beneath the skin and approaching music from a rather forensic stance. Maybe Baxter Dury would balk at a slightly wanky approach to reviews, but the fact that Dury is so grounded and normal is another reason why he is so interesting. So many artists are either bland or they have this huge sense of celebrity that means you can never really understand them and or connect. I think the best songwriters are the ones who can stand out from the pack, fly under the radar a bit and make you feel connected. I have not heard too many recorded interviews with Dury but, when he is on the radio, he has this witty and interesting voice that hooks you. He is a normal London-dwelling bloke and there are no airs and graces. I am not a fan of artists who work in soundbites or seem to read from a script when they are interviewed. Baxter Dury is instantly accessible and someone you naturally fall for. I wanted to bring in an interview that gives you a glimpse into Dury’s world and, as I was mentioning his father earlier, there are some interesting revelations regarding his young life:

“Baxter lives with his 16-year-old son, Kosmo, who he says is musical (“more so than any of us”) by osmosis. Baxter's own upbringing here was bohemian, though he tries to make things less chaotic as a parent himself. The night before, Baxter deejayed in Paris – a heavy night by the sounds of it. He can’t really mix himself, he says, so he “called up a mate” to do the honours. At the tail-end of Paris Fashion Week, he says the club was “full of cunts” but that he had a good time nonetheless, consolidated by the overly generous fee. Contrary to his DJ pal’s immaculate electro instincts, he dropped “Another Brick In The Wall” by Pink Floyd and packed the dancefloor. “The place went fucking nuts,” he grins.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jacek Poremba

Things must have got weird when the big hits by your dad’s band started rolling in?

Weird? No. It's not really weird to me because I expected the weird shit to happen. The only thing that was weird with dad was lifestyle. Around here's really posh actually, but Hammersmith itself – the core of it – is really tough. You've got two rivers: this has really posh energy with people rowing and jogging and doing posh things, and then the street parallel to this is a deeply tough area, and all sorts of scrapes and situations go on there all the time. They oppose each other in a way. This bit's immune to that, and that bit's immune to this. [Points at yacht sailing down the river]. These are the people who are immune to all of it. That's 20 million quid worth of boat there. Mad innit?

It must be nice living here?

I fucking love it. I mean I was a bit worried about moving back in because it was so chaotic when I was a kid. It wasn't easy living here. It was really mental. I mean it was great, but I've done that, and I didn't want my son to be brought up like that.

Did you have parties with Vanessa Redgrave swinging from the chandeliers?

There weren't famous people. Dad just lived a certain way. There were amazing times and not amazing times. I had to live on the fucking chaise longue in the front room and a drug dealer friend lived there [points] and he died. And I was in hospital...

So back to B.E.D. I know quite a bit about you and Étienne. Who’s Delilah Holliday?

She's well London. She lives on the 18th floor of a north London council estate. A friend of mine introduced me to her because we were looking for a singer. And she rolled up with her sister – because we bought her and her sister a Eurostar ticket to Paris – and they had three days in Paris. They were quite a breath of fresh air”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Beard

One aspect of Baxter Dury’s work is its somewhat personal and solitary nature. He lives with his son – although the interviews I quoted from are from last year, so I am not sure whether circumstances have changed -, and one gets the feeling that sense of calm and alone-time is beneficial when it comes to producing great work. Baxter Dury is not anti-social, but it is hard to collaborate with others if you have been used to working alone. Although he had another people appear on Prince of Tears, the voice at the front is that of Dury. When he started up B.E.D., there was that problem of how does one adapt to the new arrangement; writing in a different style that relies more on the collective voice than the individual? I write all my articles alone, so would find it strange mixing anyone else into the fold or having to change my process. I actually think the stuff he performed with B.E.D. has gone into his latest solo single; Dury has definitely added some new elements of learned new things by working alongside French Dance music pioneer Etienne De Crécy and Delilah Holiday of London punks Skinny Girl Diet. In an interview with The Skinny, Dury expressed his views regarding collaboration:

“Though Dury downplays the work that went into the new album, he is vocal about the challenges that arose from the collaborative process. "It was good doing the album. I’m quite bossy, but whether I really compromised that much I’m not sure.

"It’s been a little bit tense afterwards, because everyone has an agenda and a perspective. That was quite strange. There were different views of what was going on, I think that’s probably what’s destabilised bands for centuries, and I’ve never known that experience because I’ve always been on my own and had the final say. So it was quite interesting really, having to be responsible for other people. I wouldn’t say it was easy, actually. It made me think twice about doing it again."

I am not sure what the future of B.E.D. is – whether there are albums and tours in their future -, but the trio picked up some great reviews for their debut album. Before moving on, I wanted to revisit the modesty and down-to-earth nature of Baxter Dury. I think it is hard to have your own career when so many people – myself included – bring up his dad and sort of instantly compare him. Although Ian Dury might not have been the perfect dad, I think there is common D.N.A. that makes Baxter Dury truly outstanding. I am surprised he is not bigger than he is because, as we know, albums like Prince of Tears fared really well. In fact, when he spoke with The Skinny, he was questioned about the response to that album:

Dury seems sceptical of such flattery. "I made [Prince of Tears] without knowing how successful the album would be. Especially with my own albums, you know, quality control is always there… maybe there’s an attention on me now, so… I think you should always make good things. Maybe you just progressively do until you’re bad again! I think it comes in cycles, doesn’t it?

"You think you’re on top of your game, then you start wearing bad clothes and making terrible choices. I don’t think I’m quite there, but I’m probably quite close. You have to have enough success to alleviate your perspective, that’s what happens, doesn’t it? When you start wearing white plimsoles, your perspective’s been robbed somehow… it happens to every single one of them".

I have probably rattled on enough about Baxter Dury as an artist, but I wanted to highlight a few different sides and try and explore him more. His new cut, Slumlord, features a video that is quite grotty but oddly elegant. There is romantic choreography and a sense of theatre but, around the performers, there is something squalid and decaying. It is a perfect representation of a song that mixes together lights and darks; Dury in the centre of this song that blends nightmares and dreams. It is another typically trippy and intelligent track from one of the best songwriters in this country. I do hope Dury gets a lot more love going forward, as he is a breath of fresh air against the monotonous and forgettable Pop core.

There is a great combination of the funky and cinematic on Slumlord. The video starts with Dury, back to camera, taking a slash as we pan into this wide space where there are mattresses with women lying on them; Dury licks his lips as we see a light swing from one side of the scene to the other. I am not sure how many other reviews have come in for this track but, when you listen to the opening notes, there are elements of Disco and Dance. One can feel a bit of Chic and Nile Rodgers; some of the work Rodgers did with David Bowie on the latter’s 1983 album, Let’s Dance. There is a strut and catchiness that gets the song off to a flyer! I think the opening shot of Dury taking a wee is clever because, I think, the song was inspired by a real-life experience of a tap dripping – although I cannot recall exactly what that was -, so we have Dury reliving himself. With the backing vocals coming in first, Dury is pondering and strutting in the darkness as his erstwhile mates sing about taps dripping, “Sleeping in the daylight”; this vision of someone (maybe Dury) leaning out of windows. The fact Dury does not instantly come into the song builds this nice suspense. I get visions of tower-blocks and people in the early hours wandering around. The video gives us a glimpse into a flat that is bare and a bit scuzzy; Dury is this suited landlord figure that has a salacious grin and this odd charm. I think Dury’s voice is more energised and alive than it was on a lot of Prince of Tear’s tracks. Maybe matching the swagger of the composition, Dury is more animated than he has been for a while. There are few artists laying down something as funky as Baxter Dury at the moment – maybe Liverpool’s All We Are and their single, L Is for Lose, is the nearest example. Baxter’s voodoo groove is as captivating as it is unsettled. As one would expect, the man’s mastery for wordplay has not dimmed one iota. With “Charm dripping like fresh honey” the Prince of Tears/the short riff lover-boy is the Milky Bar Kid.

In his “soiled trousers”, and with cheekbones “like graveyards in the sun”, one is treated to this gangster’s kiss of eye-pooping images; this slum landlord with a glint in his eyes hikes up his “Murder shoes” and surveys his kingdom. I am not sure whether Baxter’s protagonist has murder on his mind, but one can feel a vibe of The Shining or a horror film where an eccentric character is sizing things up. In fact, I wonder whether there has been a horror flick where we have this rather cool-cum-grimy landlord who keeps this space that has a strange tang with an oddly sexy air. I also like how the chorus swings in between verses, as it offers a nice vocal shift and gives the song symmetry. If there were several verses laced together, it might be a bit heavy or samey. The chorus picks up new relevance and strength. I look for the political in everything, given the times in which we live. Maybe there is a nod to a certain austerity and struggle we are seeing in this country or, maybe, the central figure is a work of fantasy. Whatever the reality, Baxter Dury has crafted one of his most compelling characters yet. He warns people – nobody specific is charged – that, if they’ve got nownt to say, then don’t say it. He will shout them down “in a slumlord way”, and, if you watch the video alongside the song, one sees all sorts of scenes. Dury dances and has toilet roll draped on him; there are female figures dancing in their bras and this clash of the romantic and odd. I mentioned earlier how Dury’s songs provoke cinematic exposure and, on Slumlord, there is potential for it to extend into something more. The video has this fever-dream quality, and one is helpless to refute the power of the song. One kneels at the altar of Dury’s anti-hero as he struts like Mick Jagger, throws the glance of a fighter and gives us a cheeky little look now and then. “Shake it down” is a sort of mantra that take the song to its close; I am not sure what the meaning behind those words is but, when it comes to Baxter Dury’s world, one doesn’t need to. His words are often oblique and seemingly scattershot, but there is actually a lot of plot and reality. When listening to the song the first time around, I started to imagine – without relying on the visions – the character that, actually, looks very similar to how Dury looks in the video. One of the curses, I guess, with an artist who is as visually arresting and fantastical as Baxter Dury is the fact the videos might give away too much or too little – guiding the imagination too much, maybe? I love the video for Slumlord, and the song is one of the best he has created. An album is on its way next year – more on that later -, but if it matches the brilliance of Slumlord, it will be an absolute belter! One would think few golden songs are going to arrive between now and next year: Baxter Dury’s latest song proves otherwise!

I will wrap things up in a bit. Prince of Tears was a great success, and I think Baxter Dury was rather chuffed by the big acclaim it received – even if songwriters are not supposed to say so! It goes to show that critics respond to a songwriter that does things different. Dury’s songs are inventive and often wild, but one never struggles to understand what he is putting down. Such is the poetry and beauty of his words, you often come back for more. Backed by incredible backing vocals and compositions that are minimal yet have so much going on, I think there will be new appetite for his music next year. That is just as well because, on 20th March, we will receive Dury’s sixth studio album. Titled The Night Chancers, it sounds like it be another golden disc. Brooklyn Vegan explain more:

“Baxter Dury will be back with his sixth studio album, The Night Chancers, on March 20 via Heavenly. He made the album with many of the same people who appeared on 2017’s great Prince of Tears, including Madeline Heart and Rose Elinor Dougall, plus Delilah Holliday who he collaborated with on the B.E.D. record. But it also features new songwriting collaborator Shaun Paterson who helps Baxter bring new sounds into his palette of sounds. “Musically I’ve pushed on,” says Dury. “I had a formula for the previous records but now that’s done now. Everything was leading up to the full sound I had on Prince Of Tears, so I don’t need to do another one of those. I’ve done something different, something new, with this one and it’s been fun – although the orchestra was fucking expensive!”

Lyrically, he’s still telling seedy tales of sad and desperate people, but the world of The Night Chancers is set in the wee hours when most people are asleep and those who aren’t are alone with their thoughts. “It’s meant to be a bit Kubrick-y, a psychological journey through the maze bit in The Shining,” Baxter says. “So they’re not all confessional, it’s more of a feeling projected into a filmic narrative. On some of the tracks different characters appear.” The first single is “Slumlord,” which might owe just a little to David Bowie’s “Lets Dance,” and features Dury’s signature thick-accented London delivery, vivid lyrical imagery (“Shiny cheekbones like graveyards in the sun”) and creative swearing”.

If Prince of Tears had a sense of the daytime and light, The Night Chancers is set in a darker time; a period where there is stillness, but anything can happen. I like the fact a songwriter such as Baxter Dury can come up with these concepts where different characters roam. I cannot wait to hear the rest of the album but, until then, we have Slumlord: a brilliant opening salvo that shows there are few songwriters as memorable and interesting as Baxter Dury. Let’s leave things there but, going forward, keep your eyes open for that upcoming album and throw Dury some love on social media. Whereas a lot of artists are swathed in personnel and have this fake aura of accessibility, Baxter Dury is a stand-up chap who refreshingly honest and warm. If you go walking, in fact, you might just…