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At long last. An ever-shifting release date, two title changes, a remix, a re-sequencing and a re-recording later, the long-awaited and highly anticipated successor to Presents Author Unknown is among us ("From thought to actions an eternity / I can't get this thing off the ground," he foretells). Any doubts such delaying tactics may have bred are effortlessly swept aside by the latest triumph in an exemplary discography that now includes four essential pop meisterworks (Jellyfish's Bellybutton, The Grays' Ro Sham Bo, both solo records) and a plethora of unreleased and b-side material (not least the near-legendary 'lost' covers album). Falkner's love of British post-punk and New Wave assures a respite from the cliché-ridden power-pop deluge of recent years in favour of intelligent, original compositions teeming with musical invention and an idiosyncratic lyrical bent. From hook-heavy, infectious gems like the love-struck Honey, Grays-era Eloquence and recent single Holiday via the genre-defying classic I Already Know (idyllic, narcotic groove gives way to towering crescendo) to stirring ballads Good Night Sweet Night and the majestic, aptly-titled Revelation, Falkner has returned with an exemplary album. 'At the end of the day all I can say is yeah, yeah, yeah...'

Matt Dornan
CWAS #4 - Winter 1998/9 - The Lost Issue

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