Lyrical kingpin Baxter Dury has released his eighth solo album, Allbarone, via Heavenly Records. The album comes as a collaboration between Dury and Paul Epworth, the lauded producer and songwriter who has made huge hits with the likes of Florence + The Machine, Glass Animals, Paul McCartney, U2, and Adele.
Kicking off the North-London–produced record with its title track, influenced by what Dury dubbed “a chain of posh wine bars for people on apps”, ‘Allbarone’ immediately sets the scene for what inspired him to create the album and its name. The gritty sleaze that Dury is most known and loved for remains, now dialled up a notch with a discotheque edge and a vocal associate in the form of JGrrey.
On ‘Schadenfreude’, Dury excels in the style that’s defined his delivery since his debut album, Len Parrot’s Memorial Lift – a stripped-back lens on life’s misfortunes, finding a dark pleasure in the fallout of someone else’s life. Smug lyrics ruminate over the track, injecting a satirical punch that defines the album just two songs in: “I was in a hotel in Stockholm / Waiting for you to call / But you were off with that donut / Laughing behind my back / Then I read a bitter review / About a band you′re in / To be honest / I got schadenfreude”.
On ‘Kubla Khan’, the theme of discernment continues: “Tried not to speculate / Tried not to say / But one month on and you’re still the same” – marking another bolshie track that directs blame, of an unspecified cause, squarely at a nameless figure, evoking the sense that Dury remains faultless and the wider world bears all responsibility for his annoyance.
JGrrey’s soft-serve vocals delight throughout Allbarone, but reach their peak on the punchy, groove-infused ‘Alpha Dog’ – a vocally hymn-like serenade that confronts the theme of belonging right from the start: “Please don’t apologise / This is how you were born.” Similar themes arise in ‘The Other Me’, where Dury yearns and JGrrey sings “We don’t belong / To the orange club / And we want our money / Back”.
Though lyrically mysterious in parts, Allbarone is undeniably steeped in a sense of discomfort and disillusionment with both self and society, placing Dury once again in his element of incisive social critique. Even if one finds the lyrics’ grandiose bluntness off-putting, the record’s consistently assertive perspective elicits a begrudging respect for its honesty.
Angst too makes an appearance in ‘Return Of The Sharp Heads’. “I’ll sit back and admire how much you hate yourself / You’re just a bunch of soul f***ers / Entitled c***s”. Here, Dury once again swipes at the social circles he finds unbearable, as well as the newfound societal norms that have taken the world by storm, such as the controversial weight-loss drug Ozempic – “Big fat lovers, big fat Olympic, Ozempic hips”. Where such comments might typically stir an unwelcome response from listeners, these mocking lines instead resemble an inner thought laid bare, casting light on the deep-seated biases and judgements humans so often inherit, therefore letting the singer off the hook.
However, Dury doesn’t shy away from these harsh takes, instead addressing these quirks of human behaviour and fostering an outlet for people to see themselves through his critical internal dialogue. “It’s very critical of people, this album, whoever they are… but as the portrait of the people you’re singing about emerges, you realise you’re actually talking about yourself: just the same old entitled knobhead in a grey nylon suit.”
Reflecting on the album’s stylistic shifts that see the singer incorporate dance elements against his harsher lyrical overlay, Dury confessed: “I hate it when I think I might be making Harrods hamper music – a little bit of this nice thing, a little bit of that – that’s my biggest fear, becoming a variety show band.”
Yet listeners needn’t worry; Dury’s amalgamation of disco, futurism, and industrial German beats lands with cohesion rather than clutter, and marks one of the singer’s most introspective explorations of the human psyche yet.
With the album due on 12th September and a string of UK tour dates this autumn, Allbarone sees Dury stronger than ever, marking him as a one to watch as we gear up for award season early next year.
Words by Ruby Brown
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