The debut solo effort from the
Klaxons co-founder,
The Performer sees
James Righton distilling the neon dance-rock of his flagship band into a mostly tasty hybrid of velvety
Todd Rundgren-meets
Bryan Ferry retro-pop and California-kissed '70s soft rock with neo-psych underpinnings. More in line with
Righton's 2017's outing under the
Shock Machine moniker,
The Performer, despite its affectations, feels like a more authentic rendering of
Righton as a songwriter. Commencing with the strident title cut, a propulsive pastiche of
Foreigner's "Cold as Ice" and
Strange Days-era
Doors, the nine-song set is an assured, if sometimes meandering rumination on the dichotomy between pop stardom and fatherhood. The affirming "Edie," written for
Righton's daughter, benefits from a laid-back groove and a net of warm disco strings, as does the darker hued "See the Monster," which pulls out the underrated vibraslap from its arsenal of '70s ephemera: warbly Fender Rhodes piano and flashes of
Lee Hazlewood-esque psych-folk run through the languid, two-part "Lessons in Dreamland." The sensuous late-night half-banger "Devil Is Loose," with its sinister walking bassline and cascading reverb, definitely shows its
Klaxons DNA, but, like the rest of the album, it manages to keep its less savory elements in check.
The Performer can get a bit bogged down in its own stylistic chicanery, but
Righton is transitioning from rocker to crooner in real time, and it's the tension between the two aesthetics that keeps the listener's attention. ~ James Christopher Monger
