- Label
- 679 Recordings
- Release date
- 15th September 2008
- Genre
- Hip-hop/rap
- Buy this album
- Order CD
Mike Skinner mutates from good-time geezer to cosmic thinker
Mike Skinner has said that his next record as The Streets will be his last and Everything Is Borrowed, his fourth album under that moniker, finds him chafing at the restrictions of the persona. His shtick, and his charm, has always been rooted in his intensely autobiographical approach to his art, yet here he casts his lyrical net far and wide to muse on religious divides, environmental ills and what can only be described as a search for the meaning of life.
Everything Is Borrowed thus lacks some of the immediacy of its predecessors but is nevertheless a diverting experience. Skinner has far too lively a mind to be boring and entertaining one-liners abound, while he gains musically from abandoning samples and drum machines for actual musicians. It's notable, though, that the most effective track, I Love You More (Than You Like Me) is also the most baldly personal: Mike Skinner should not forget that it is his own quixotic mental games that make him a sharp and unique performer.
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