Perhaps following the lead of mod father
Paul Weller,
Tom Hingley, the onetime singer of Manchester's baggy-scene giants
Inspiral Carpets, has gone all rustic with his solo debut. The album features only
Hingley's voice and acoustic guitar (with no overdubs), a far cry from the cascading, retro-organ grooves of
Inspiral Carpets. After being relatively out of sight after the dissolution of his former band in the mid-'90s,
Hingley re-emerges here as an even finer singer than before. Thematically, the album deals with typical man-woman, love/loss fare. (Undoubtedly linked to the fact that
Hingley is now a divorced father in his mid-thirties.) Nevertheless, this is a mature and solid effort, and if fans of old have a hard time making the leap with
Hingley into this starker format, they can always check out his group the Lovers. ~ Erik Hage