Patrick Wolf - Night Safari

Given that it’s been so long since he last released new music - last year’s ‘Enter The Day’ was his first single in a decade - that ‘The Night Safari’ sounds precisely how one might imagine Patrick Wolf to sound in 2023 is in itself impressive. His soaring, operatic voice dominates for the most part, while the songs’ arrangements dart around it in a swell of melodrama. He ekes out every last hint of whimsy from each track - only one here stays under the four-minute mark: the interval-like, sprawling and often-baffling ‘Acheron’ - leaving not a theatrical stone unturned. It’s all exhausting, of course, but anyone who followed Patrick’s meandering journey prior to his extended break, wouldn’t expect anything less.