Kimberley Rew – Essex Hideaway
Kimberley Rew’s third full-length solo release is his best yet, which is the way those things are supposed to go. Clocking in at under 31 minutes, it has everything a great album needs in terms of diversity, continuity and commitment.
First with the Soft Boys and then on to commercial success with Katrina & The Waves, Rew has diligently pursued his craft. The delicious guitar-based character of those bands can be heard on this set in songs such as “Jerome K. Jerome”, “Ballad Of The Lone Guitarist” and “Even Shorter Haircut”. Now past the midpoint of his life, he’s giving voice to sentiments that are generally outside the purview of a younger man. The shape of the contemporary landscape informs “Arterial Road” (“Le Corbusier was a visionary bloke, now his jetpacks and monorails look like a joke”).
The set’s most emotionally arresting moments are the mortality-infused “Your Mother Was Born In That House” and the title track, with its promise of romance preserved. It’s reassuring when an artist on the fringes of the mainstream perseveres and hits a new stride in later days.