Philip Kane
Songs for Swinging Lovers
Corrupt Records

Philip Kane has a lot of nerve. He has stolen an album title from Frank Sinatra and borrowed some vocal mannerisms from Jeff Buckley. He has the talent to get away with it too. His gorgeous, bruised serenades resonates like few other things do right now. He finds depth in Gloria Estefan on the glorious album opener "Me, the Ladyboy and Gloria Estefan". Its soulful stylings are more Al Green than the Miami Sound Machine songbird though.

"The Morning After the Morning After" is an affecting tale of a relationship that may be over before its really started. Kane sings it with appropriately velvet regret. Like so many other of his songs it finds romance in the most squalid of settings.

It's a warm, intimate-sounding album, but it's capable of grand musical gestures like the Spanish guitar on "Barcelona" and the very Buckley-ish rocker "Pearl Necklace". The nightmarish monologue "Tonight" sees the narrator having a boozed up night. Musically it owes something to Bowie in his Berlin era.

The gospel-tinged closer "A Million Kisses (will not heal you)" is both uplifting and profound. Kane's rich voice will cast its spell on all who hear this song. This is a revelation of an album.

Copyright © 2003 Anna Maria Stjärnell