Since breaking up Hefner after 2001’s Dead Media album frontman Darren Hayman has been ploughing an increasingly lonely furrow of bedsit indie music. His latest incarnation, backed by The Secondary Modern, follows up their debut with this folk opera (Hayman’s own description) about Harlow in Essex, the titular Pram Town.
First off, the instrumentation is just lovely. The mixture of acoustic instruments (banjo, ukele, dulcimer, recorder and more all feature) and bedroom electronics prove to be the perfect backing to Hayman’s affectionate tales of the kind of world that he himself escaped.
The songs are thoughtful vignettes about growing up in the reality of the post war British new town dream. It is bittersweet stuff and Hayman clearly has a love-hate relationship with these places (he grew up in nearby Brentwood).
It is the most consistently enjoyable album that Hayman has produced since Hefner’s demise. The songs ‘Pram Town’ and ‘No Middle Name’ are superb and ‘Losing My Glue’ and ‘Fire Stairs’ are probably the album’s standout tracks.
Released to little fanfare by The Track and Field Organisation this album is unlikely to attract many new listeners. And that is a crying shame when the album is something of a career high from an underated talent.
9/10
by Dorian Rogers, Jan 2009
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