Review Summary: A different direction for the Pulp frontman, not yet fully-formed, but still enjoyable.
On paper, Further Complications looks like one of the worst ideas ever conceived. Taking Jarvis Cocker, better known as the frontman of Brtipop's Pulp, mostly known for songwriting both dryly-witty and heavily-produced, and teaming him with producer/general weirdo Steve Albini, who is still holding strong to his basic, no-fuss, no-overdubs credo, seems like it would sap the elegance from Jarvis and the raw power from Albini. Surprisingly, then, this album is actually very good, albeit quite different from Cocker's solo debut (Jarvis) and his work with Pulp.
The only sounds here that really feel like the Cocker we know are little details like the backup vocal "ahhs" on the title track, the juke-joint saxophone on "Homewrecker" and the handclaps on "Angela". Otherwise, Albini hasn't modified his signature production style at all: the drums and bass are very dry, the guitars scratch and growl all over the place, Jarvis' voice isn't cleanly separated from the music; it's just a very "live" sounding record, overall. In a lot of ways, though, these songs feel like standard Jarvis/Pulp songs, cut down to their bare essentials (usually a hammering blues-punk riff, a blunted rhythmic stomp and a set of cleverly mean lyrics), though they do tend to have a more herky-jerky Stooges-ish quality to them. Some, like "Angela", do descend perilously close to standard-issue bar-band boogie but even there, the lyrics are clever and he even pokes fun at this cliche in "Caucasian Blues". Cocker's voice, too, has more spit-and-grit to it, like he's singing through gnashed teeth half the time, indulging in full-throated shouts another bit and semi-parodically crooning the rest of the album. Even the slower tracks, like "Leftovers" and "Hold Still", are rubbed-raw, both sonically and lyrically. Reports indicate that this is a "breakup album" but it doesn't feel like the standard blue-toned melancholic affair that term implies. Certainly, though, one can read the obvious into the title and chorus of "Homewrecker" and "Hold Still"'s plaint that "kittens are cute/but a full-grown cat can be cuter" befits a near-40 divorcee.
Perhaps it's because Cocker is too clever to descend into standard "woe is me" whining, but he seems far more critical of himself than anyone else on this record, "I Never Said I Was Deep" ("but I am profoundly shallow") being the peak of this. With a goofily swooning chorus and a slight twinkle in the guitars, it would seem to be the album's lightest moment but then Cocker gets to lacerating himself: "If you want someone to talk to/ you're wasting your time", "you're going over my head", "my morality is shabby/my behaviour unacceptable". And then there's the money line, probably one of the funniest and most wince-inducing you'll ever hear: "I'm not looking for a relationship, just a willing receptacle"; the rest of the album is gnarled with Costello-esque barbs like that.
If one song here is a full misstep, it's the wordless motorik of "Pilchard" (which, in Jarvis' own words, he "never got around to writing"), which seems like a good idea but never congeals to anything more. As well, the album is certainly below the peak of Cocker's powers such as Pulp's This is Hardcore and Different Class albums. Comparing to his self-titled solo debut, though, it stacks up quite well, albeit on very different terms. Whereas that album felt like a somewhat reconfigured extension of his work with Pulp, Further Complications represents a clear break and a new direction for Cocker, which may be equally rewarding as time goes on. Pulp didn't arrive as fully-formed as the hook-filled monsters they would later become, it took ten years and a bunch of records to get there. Similarly, if this direction is pursued by Cocker under less hasty circumstances in the future, the dividends it pays can be expected to be more pronounced.
Overall, even if it shows more potential than it truly achieves, this is a strong offering. Its music is strong, its lyrics are cleverly-mean; yes, nothing here equals “Common People” or “The Fear”, but that just shows the danger of false expectations. Cocker is pursuing new ground for himself here and the initial results are imperfect, but if he's earned one thing from his past work, it's the right to be just good instead of profoundly great, ever so often.
