Paul Weller - Sonik Kicks

Paul Weller needs no introduction. Front man of my personal choice for best band ever, The Jam, he's something of an institution in the UK having spent six years with The Jam, another six with The Style Council and then going on to his continuing solo career that has thus far spanned 22 years and 11 albums, including his latest offering, Sonik Kicks. The last few years have seen Weller experimenting more and more, becoming quite literally The Changing Man. He's clearly at a time of much change, both in his personal life and professional life, with his last three albums all being more experimental than the previous eight.

There's certainly a lot going on in Sonik Kicks. For the first time I can remember, Weller's voice and guitar aren't the most obvious thing in many of the songs. On the opening track 'Green', the signature guitar is buried underneath wildly panning textures and a meaty rhythm section. The vocal also pans back and forth and is delivered almost as spoken word. While the panning can be distracting, when the sound comes at you from both speakers, the impact is pretty impressive. The new additions to the family (twins Bowie and John Paul) have clearly lightened the notoriously grumpy Mr Weller. Tracks like 'The Attic' and 'Kling I Klang' are up tempo, happy sounding songs. Both are fairly uplifting and littered with nice splashes of sound from the effects board, something that has always featured in his solo work, just not as obviously as it does this album. Again the guitar is buried a little in these songs and the rhythm section raised to more prominence.

'Sleep of the Serene' lends the album a slightly ambient feel, featuring lots of effects and some initially discordant strings, which brighten up in the final quarter. 22 Dreams gets touched upon in the lovely 'By The Waters', before the album gets soulful on 'That Dangerous Age', leading off with some programmed drums and a light, upbeat tempo. The backing vocals reminded me a little of the kind you might find in Motown songs, with a "do-woop" thrown in here and there. The bass features prominently here, as it does in a lot of the album. 'Study In Blue' is another such track, which has an almost Acid Jazz feel to it. It also features the new Mrs Weller and the duet between the two is really good, with her voice sounding beautiful and a pleasant counterpoint to his gruffer vocal. The only drawback for me is that it's far too long, wandering off into self indulgence for an extended period. They could have perhaps chopped a minute or so off and brought it back later as a refrain.

'Dragonfly' also has family connections, originally being a poem by one of Weller's daughters. The tempo is good and waves of sound wash over the track, bathing you in a warm feeling. Vocally it's delivered superbly and effortlessly, while in there somewhere is Graham Coxon, helping out his pal on this track as well as 'The Attic'. The standout from the first few listens though is 'Around The Lake'. The rhythm section are thumpingly good and push the track forward with no let up. A certain Noel Gallagher features and it's a brooding, driving beast of a song. There's a hint of the Weller snarl in the tracks pounding relentlessness.

'Drifters', coming after the 20 seconds long 'Twilight', feels something of a letdown after the awesomeness of 'Around the Lake'. The guitars and music in general is quite rocky and distorted, but the vocals feel like they belong to another song. A bit disappointing really.  Penultimate track 'Paper Chase' is another to feature the excellent rhythm section prominently. There's a repeated note throughout, creating a steady tempo. You're almost waiting on Weller to unleash the guitar but the explosion never comes. Between verses there are some really nice passages of music when the sounds blooms. Final track 'Be Happy Children' is a piano ballad in tribute to Weller's Dad, John, who died in 2009. It's in part beautiful and in part infuriating. For me the effects smother the simple beauty of the song, which is a shame.

On the whole, I found the album to be pretty good and interesting. There's a lot of influences in the melting pot here, but the good thing is they're used sparingly and with a more subtle hand. The recent interest in electronic music has the most obvious impact on Weller's sound this time out, but the things that still make Weller great are here. Killer guitar hooks, great writing and an edge that rebels against everything no matter what. Paul Weller will always do what the hell he likes and that's just fine by me. There will be surprises here for long time fans, but I feel this will sit well in the discography and age well with time and repeated listens. Did it really need the 'k' in 'Sonik' though?