Robyn Hitchcock - Robyn Hitchcock (Yep Roc)

Add Date: 04/04
Focus Tracks: 4, 1, 2, 10
FCC: Clean
Formats: College

Artist Info: Described by its creator as “an ecstatic work of negativity,” ROBYN HITCHCOCK instantly stands among the most energized and ambitious recordings of the iconic troubadour’s long career. Hitchcock’s 21st studio recording and first-ever eponymous release, the album sees him casting familiar shapes into surprising new forms, the sci-fi fueled sounds and visions that first stimulated his work now ribboned with experience and hard-earned wisdom. Spanning dystopian, inspired folk baroque, even rambunctious liver-fried country, ROBYN HITCHCOCK marks both a masterful new chapter and ideal entry point into Hitchcock’s wildly brilliant oeuvre.

“It’s ‘Introducing Robyn Hitchcock,’” he says. “Think of me as a new act – I’m only 63. People always ask me, where should I start listening to your records? I’m a train with many carriages. I thought, I’ll just make this record and if people like this one, then they’ll probably like the others. If they don’t, it’s not worth them listening to any of them, really.”

Hitchcock’s one-of-a-kind approach remains as exuberant, irreverent, and immensely moving as ever before, the verbal hijinks and fantastical imagery always in service of surprising emotional exploration and forward-thinking vision. ROBYN HITCHCOCK surely embraces Hitchcock’s sonic past, but songs like the metamorphic first single, “I Want To Tell You About What I Want” are almost painfully of the moment, staring the future square in its orange marmalade face.

Robyn Hitchcock and ROBYN HITCHCOCK both have an undeniable pep to their step. Remarkably vital and positively vibey, the album’s charged psych pop ‘n’ roll stands as not just a high-water mark for Hitchcock but two joyfully raised fingers towards the inevitable.

“It is quite perky for a man of my years,” says he. “I’ve been making autumnal records since I was 30. Now I’m past the autumn of my life so I’ve decided to start making spring records. I can’t be bothered to sound as ancient as I am.

“I am, I suppose, growing old. But I’m not growing up. The brush of maturity has not yet swept my fevered brow.”