Album reviews: Olly Alexander – Polari and Inhaler – Open Wide On his first solo album, Alexander explores fascinating themes but struggles to find much of substance of say, while Dublin rock band Inhaler make great strides on their confident third record.
Elsewhere, I’m desperate for more insight than we hear on the single “Cupid’s Bow”, on which he sings: “You’ve done somethin’ to me/ And I love the way it feels/ But maybe I just don’t know what I want.” “Shadow of Love” is marginally better: a moody, dungeon-clank and synth-jab of a tune about craving the slightest taste of a romantic connection (I adore the deliberate stumble as he asks, “Love me once and then fu-forget about me”), yet he’s so fixated on that title refrain it sounds like he’s stuck on repeat.
It’s strange to consider Polari as Olly Alexander’s debut solo album, but so goes the latest career step for the former Years & Years frontman.
That Inhaler frontman Elijah Hewson, son of U2’s Bono, is still here, releasing his third – and most satisfying – album with the Dublin-formed band is enough proof, then, that he has plenty of both.
Amid the split from his bandmates, he found critical acclaim as lead character Ritchie in Russell T Davies’ wonderful Channel 4 drama It’s a Sin, having previously dabbled with minor roles in shows such as Skins, the brilliant Keats biopic Bright Star and Jack Black’s 2010 flop Gulliver’s Travels.
