Philip Selway - Strange Dance

Load up a search engine and type in Philip Selway, and the first handful of promotional images it’ll display show him sat casually, yet holding drum sticks. It’s testament to the level of anonymity he’s been able to keep despite being in one of the world’s most revered bands: without the visual clue, nobody would ever guess there sits the drummer in Radiohead. ‘Strange Dance’ is Philip’s third studio album, and just as 2014’s ‘Weatherhouse’ was more sonically rich than the somewhat sparse, acoustically-driven solo debut, ‘Familial’, it sees him add further layers to his sonic mixture, most notably strings, which serve to augment the songs’ moods, whether melancholy (‘Make It Go Away’) or with a sense of unease (‘What Keeps You Awake At Night’). The expanded palette allows him, for instance, to take opener ‘Little Things’ from the kind of piano croon not unlike something Richard Hawley may write to a near-euphoric crescendo. Or evoke ‘80s new wave on ‘Salt Air’, where Philip’s vocal bears a passing resemblance to that of Ian McCulloch, the line “I won’t make the same mistake twice” filled with a silent-yet-piercing tension. The richness of its sounds is what makes ‘Strange Dance’ a warmly familiar, if not entirely compelling listen.