BABYBIRD’S Stephen Jones called his best-known album Ugly Beautiful and it still encapsulates his pop essence 14 years later.
He picks away at the ugly, rough side of life but couches his fears and dyspeptic doom in big, epic, beautiful, multi-layered guitar music that lifts you up, up and away. It’s not a new trick, least of all for Jones, who has been doing it since his Sheffield bedsit lo-fi recordings, but these 11 instantly infectious songs find his lyrics as sharp as his ear for a tune, further invigorated by working with new musicians in Los Angeles.
The damned allure of drugs, failed suicide, foiled love, paranoid parents, insecurity and broken bodies may sound bleaker than Saddleworth Moor, but Jones’s cussed wit and Vitamin C pop sensibilities win out. Add buddy Johnny Depp’s guest guitar on Unloveable and Ex-Maniac is very loveable.
• Babybird plays Fibbers, York, on Wednesday.
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