Jerskin Fendrix - Once Upon A Time… In Shropshire

Not that it’s a question most will ever be faced with, but what exactly does one do after being Oscar nominated for a debut film score? Following his work with surrealist auteur Yorgos Lanthimos, experimental pop composer Jerskin Fendrix is heading back home. To encapsulate the musical boundaries of these ten tracks - which shuffle between moving orchestral ballads (‘Mum & Dad’), grand art pop (‘Princess’) and bizarre jazz/rap rock (‘Jerskin Fendrix Freestyle’) - is a something of a fool’s errand; it’s better, perhaps, to approach his latest as a work of post-ironic honesty (note the cover art of him holding a sheep, for one). In visuals and in title, it may provoke laughter, but as the sweet and melancholic memories he sings about on wondrous highlight ‘The Universe’ detail, this is an album that bulldozes through irony in service of sincere, meaningful eccentricity.