Keep It Together

Keep It Together

The oddness of The Doozer is of a cheerily domestic sort, akin to the droll whimsy of fellow U.K. eccentrics Ivor Cutler and Robert Wyatt. The singer/songwriter’s fourth album, Keep It Together, takes him deeper into life’s mundane corners with an eye for skewed angles. This time out, The Doozer allows himself a fuller instrumental palette, combining stripped-down rock backings with elegant orchestral touches. Lyrically, the songs here are snapshots of commonplace objects and ordinary incidents that reveal quirky details upon close observation. Singing with a dreamy nonchalance, The Doozer examines nature (“Lowest Point”), visits a bucolic community (“Display Cabinets”), and considers the workaday life (“Jobsworth”). Under the placid surface of tunes like “The Island” and “Fold Up Chair” are unexpectedly well-wrought melodies with gentle but insistent hooks. Particularly pleasing is “Aluminum Dome,” a dreamy-eyed ditty with British music-hall overtones. The Doozer maintains his poker-faced calm throughout, holding forth like an ageless innocent or a tweaked old coot (or both simultaneously).

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