Music

The former Orange Juice frontman is proof that what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. In February 2005, Edwyn Collins collapsed at his London home and was rushed to hospital with a brain haemorrhage. Five days later, he suffered another. After going under the knife, he contracted MRSA, so the titanium plate in his head had to be removed and then put back. Six months later, Collins left hospital barely able to talk or walk but since then, has made amazing progress, not least of all mixing the 12 songs he’d already recorded for this, his sixth solo album.

Put simply, they’re terrific. Collins’ distinctive, reedy croon carries a bunch of guitar-driven, country noir ballads and muscular, soul-pop numbers which suggest an aesthetic kinship with Richard Hawley. Collins, though, prefers railroad blues, the spaghetti western soundtrack’s sweep and country’s twang to the romantic swoon and although his love of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Woody Guthrie and Johnny Cash is plain, it exerts a subtle influence. The bleak, lowering beauty of ‘Leviathan’ is a highlight, alongside the funky, Beck-in-Folsom Prison blues of ‘7th Son’ and lead single ‘You’ll Never Know’ – as effortlessly sweet an exercise in ’60s soul pop as you’ll hear in 2007
 – but there’s much more to love here. Welcome back, Edwyn; we wish you well(er).