On Sunset finds
Paul Weller returning to
Polydor Records, the label both
the Jam and
Style Council called home back in the 1980s.
Polydor and
Weller parted ways after he delivered
Modernism: A New Decade in 1989, an excursion into house music that the label deemed too uncommercial at the time. Ironically,
On Sunset finds
Weller picking up some of the threads left hanging by
Modernism, not by reviving the big beat of house music but rather delving deep into soul-rock that looks forward and backward in equal measure. Reuniting with
Jan Kybert -- the collaborator who co-wrote and co-produced 2015's
Saturns Pattern but largely sat out its 2017 sequel,
A Kind Revolution, and didn't appear at all on 2018's
True Meanings --
Weller pushes himself into new textural territory, adhering to his love of soul, '60s rock, and folk yet assembling the parts in unpredictable fashions. All this is apparent from the moment the cool electronic groove underpinning the opening "Mirror Ball" starts fracturing into space, losing its rhythm and melody as it enters the stratosphere. A few other songs perform a similar trick -- particularly those like "More," which seem to stretch out across the horizon -- but that fluid sensibility enlivens the leaner tracks, most of which arrive on the second half of the album. As the songs grow tighter,
Weller indulges in a few familiar obsessions -- pastoral folk vies with psych-pop in the tradition of
Steve Marriott -- but everything is cloaked in a glassy, reflective sheen, one that can sound progressive or electronic or traditional depending on perspective. The ever-changing sound exists largely on the surface, not the songs themselves, as they're sturdy, winning tunes that find
Weller in an appealing troubadour mode. What's different about
On Sunset is that expansive hybrid of electronic and R&B, a fusion colored by just enough experimentation and craft to make the album feel fresh and distinctly belonging to
Weller. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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