The Night Chancers
From thrilling affairs that dissolve into sweaty desperation (Night Chancers) to the absurd bloggers, fruitlessly clinging to the fag ends of the fashion set (Sleep People), via soiled real life (Slum Lord) social media – enabled stalkers (I’m not Your Dog) and new day, sleep – deprived optimism (Daylight), the record’s finely drawn vignettes, are all based on the corners of world Dury has visited. Baxter says “Night Chancers is about being caught out in your attempt at being free”, it’s about someone leaving a hotel room at three in the morning. You’re in a posh room with big Roman taps and all that, but after they go suddenly all you can hear is the taps dripping, and all you can see the debris of the night is around you. Then suddenly a massive party erupts, in the room next door. This happened to me and all I Could hear was the night chancer, the hotel ravers”.
The songwriters storytelling reaches conceptual new heights on The Night Chancers
With a voice that embodies moderately priced red wine and late, late nights, Dury is one of the most distinctive figures in contemporary British oddball-pop
Over his last few albums, especially on 2018's Prince of Tears, Baxter Dury came up with a winning formula that entailed him drawling out tales of decadence and despair in a dry monotone.
Baxter Dury has surpassed the excellence of his previous records and found a comfortable resting spot with The Night Chancers, which is a kaleidoscope of contemporary characters channeled impeccably through smart verse and its pleasing surround sound of electro-funk and francophile pop.
It may have taken a decade and a half for the world to cotton on to Baxter Dury’s impeccable wares, but West London’s very own poet laureate is reaping the rewards now. If 2017’s fifth long player Prince of Tears finally brought about the mass expos
The foremost soundtracker of British, faux-sophisticated pathos returns with another record of spellbinding, matter-of-fact brilliance
Shunning big hooks and choruses, the indie raconteur turns his hand to immaculate character studies of life’s losers
Baxter Dury was the five-year-old urchin standing alongside dad on the cover of Ian Dury’s groundbreaking 1977 debut album, New Boots and Panties!
The singer turns storyteller with a collection of skilfully drawn vignettes, review by Barney Harsent