Dropping The Writ

Dropping the Writ’ is an informal term meaning "the procedure in some government systems where the head of government goes to the head of state and formally advise them to dissolve parliament", apparently.

It's anyone's guess as to why Cass McCombs has chosen the phrase as the title of his third album, and you get the impression that's how he likes it. Over the course of two albums (this is his third), he's developed a reputation as a wilfully eccentric and highly talented creator of quirky, intelligent pop songs. His delight in confounding expectations is written all over this album: charming melodies and literate, cryptic lyrics (the chorus to the first song is "Hey Nonny Nonny") are again the order of the day, but the musical accompaniment is consistently diverse.

McCombs is a musical magpie, hopping between musical eras and genres with unconcealed glee. There are hints of fellow restless eccentric Andrew Bird on ‘Crick In My Neck’, Elliott Smith on the lovely ‘Pregnant Pause’, and touches of late 70s Fleetwood Mac on the elegant ‘Petrified Forest’. He hops back and forth across the Atlantic without hesitation, blending 1980s English pop stylings with Americana, often in the space of the same song: on "Wheel Of Fortune" he ends each verse with Morissey-esque vocal tics, and on the sixties folk of ‘The Moon or Infinity’, he does his best Arthur Lee impression, right down to the echoed yelps at the end.

The pleasure lies in seeing how he bends each style to suit his considerable songwriting abilites - how, for example, warm guitar strumming and floaty falsetto vocals bring out the sunshine and gentle romance of the gorgeous ‘Morning Shadows’. In fact, despite the genre-hopping, the mood in general is brighter and more polished than his previous albums: ‘That's That’, in particular, has the production values of 1980s Californian pop, and its shiny guitar lines and clean "doo-wah" backing vocals are typical of the album's clean, bright aesthetic.

As the final track comes to a close, McCombs repeats the words "Nothing is impossible", and if there is a unifying thread throughout this remarkably eclectic album, it is this sense of optimism: above all, Dropping The Writ is a beautiful piece of work, full of warmth, light and grace.