Soul music is best delivered by tattered people. Clearly, Kevin Rowland fits that billing, yet Dexys’ first album in 27 years is surprisingly upbeat in tone. Album opener ‘Now’ is joyfully pop, ‘Lost’ is a string-clad reverie of soft vocals counterpointed by blazing choruses, while there’s also a five-song suite – the highlight being ‘Incapable Of Love’ – that tracks a relationship; Rowland trading lines with new member Madeline Hyland. ‘One Day…’ finds Rowland weary, woozy and nakedly accepting of loneliness and age; a true soul man.

Joe Shooman