In this successful first solo album, Jarvis Cocker (former lead singer of Pulp) pays thinly veiled tribute to his lifelong heroes (Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, Talking Heads...) and delivers some of his best songs to date. The orchestration, a blend of urban pop and ambient rock, is understated and the arrangements clever. A deliberately offbeat crooner, dark humorist, and wordsmith who still knows how to make them sing despite the years that encourage his competitors to adopt a monotone, Cocker has lost none of his verve.