Years & Years: Night Call (Polydor)
Rating: 
Verdict: Dials the right numbers
Janis Ian The Light At The End Of The Line (Rude Girl)
Rating: 
Verdict: Elegant swansong
John Mellencamp: Strictly A One-Eyed Jack (EMI )
Rating:
Verdict: Blue-collar rock… with help from The Boss
Once an electronic trio, Years & Years is now the vehicle for a solo Olly Alexander.
An enthusiastic multi-tasker who is juggling an acting career, television presenting roles and pop, the Gloucestershire-raised singer is becoming a force to be reckoned with on all fronts.
In the past year he’s sung with Elton John at the BRITs, appeared on Strictly Come Dancing and been praised for his performance in Channel 4 drama series It’s A Sin, about the Aids epidemic in 1980s London.
At Christmas, he starred in a festive episode of Bake Off before hosting the New Year celebrations on BBC One. If you think such a busy schedule might have a detrimental effect on his music, think again.
An enthusiastic multi-tasker who is juggling an acting career, television presenting roles and pop, the Gloucestershire-raised singer is becoming a force to be reckoned with on all fronts
Night Call is the third Years & Years album (his first without former bandmates Mikey Goldsworthy and Emre Türkmen) but it refines his approach by avoiding anything too esoteric in favour of a heady rush to the dance floor.
It’s a confident step for the singer, 31, whose personality seeps into the songs. Made with British producer Mark Ralph, Night Call isn’t groundbreaking and periodically lapses into pastiche.
There’s an obvious debt to 1970s styles and the electronic pop and disco that fuelled Kylie’s Light Years and Madonna’s Confessions On A Dance Floor in the early 2000s.
But Alexander leaves his own stamp. Having tried, and failed, to write songs while on tour, he found inspiration after filming It’s A Sin. After the original band split in 2020 (though Goldsworthy will still play live), he began afresh.
Reluctant to write about lockdown, he opted instead to explore the ‘fantastical space’ of feel-good pop.
The upshot is a coming-of-age odyssey that touches on the search for love, but is primarily about how Alexander, also a strong voice on gay and mental health issues, is learning how to enjoy himself.
The title track may be a song about nocturnal desires, but it’s also a bullish metaphor for his return to music. The songs, mostly co-written with his producer, contain sly twists amid the pulsating electronics.
Consequences leans too heavily on auto-tuned vocals, but
