Darren Hayman & The Secondary Modern - Essex Arms
Darren Hayman has been regarded as one of England’s Finest Songwriters™ in some circles for several years now. Drawing on the melodrama amongst the mundane, Essex Arms is his fifth solo album and second in a proposed trilogy about his home county. This one focuses on the countryside and musically it evolves into something more de-urbanised too, mixed with a softer, folkier palette provided by the ever-changing (but perhaps never better) Secondary Modern. The trademark acute and wry observational lyrics remain but Hayman’s whimsy seems more restrained or matured as if the voyage outside the city is a simultaneous search for authenticity. Nothing sums up the warmth of this record more than the charming duet with Emmy the Great and whilst regular readers might recognise a bit of bias from this writer when it comes to Mr Hayman, this is perhaps his finest solo record.
