Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians
Element of Light

With all due respect to Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who says otherwise, it is precisely the clarity and melodic generosity that take the worst hits in this transitional album of the band, perhaps even intended for the emerging indie market and calibrated for contemporary Anglo-American jangle-pop (R.E.M. first and foremost); the chromatic and virtuostic acrobatics of Fegmania! give way to a stylized sonic clarity in the meticulous attention to arrangements, sometimes leading to good results (Raymond Chandler Evening), but mostly unable to lift sleepy and subpar material; Hitchcock mimics John Lennon (Somewhere Apart is a rewrite of Remember from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band) but his ease is not enough.

The 70s parapsychedelic epicism of Lady Waters & the Hooded One - which picks up the pace of Underwater Moonlight, as Piero Scaruffi seems to notice** - seems an unintentional insertion, between the wintery and radio-friendly ballads Airborne and Winchester; occasionally a radiant refrain rises above the monotony (If You Were a Priest, President), but they are simple and often vacuous songs, pretentiously crafted but lacking substanc.

A small failure.

** although the expression "has the class of Underwater" is rather vague