After a night of hard drinking, I discovered by chance that Leaving Songs represents the mid-life hangover, figuratively as well as literally. As my thinning hair turns noticeably greyer, the frank subject matter the Tindersticks frontman presents here hits home like a brick hurled through the window.
"Goodbye To Old Friends" starts off like a Dear John letter meant for a lover, rapidly veering towards introspective self-degradation and depressive misery, Staples lowering himself to counting the beer bottles from the purposeless night before. As it progresses, however, the focus changes yet again, hinting at issues within the band that brought him to indie fame, and it becomes painfully clear that this is his universal kiss-off, an ode to everyone who matters and anyone who'll listen. Like a godless Nick Cave, Staples treads, guitar securely strapped to his back, through the murky swampwater of his emotions, attempting to press on with his life ("There Is A Path") or coming to terms with his teenaged mistakes ("Dance With An Old Man").
Unfortunately for him, Staples isn't the self-help book type, so this journey leads him not to redemption, but, rather, in hopeless circles. The most gut-wrenching point of this harrowing odyssey emerges on "One More Time", a ballad about that all too familiar scenario of getting back together, even just for one night. The chorus, appropriately delivered with female accompaniment, strips away the bullshit and touches on the common thread that holds together this fragile collection: loneliness. The concocted fantasy of abandoning a dissatisfying life, revealed on the album's powerful lead single "That Leaving Feeling", doesn't take into account just how helplessly dependent we all are on even the most unhealthy relationships we partake in. In the song's closing verse, Staples can't help but find an excuse to stay, citing loose ends and, absurdly, the weather, as if a sunnier day would somehow be more suitable for departure.
Though I'm hardly at the same point in my life that Staples is in his, I nonetheless find myself relating to his forlorn reminiscing and half-believed lamentations, a rarity in a genre where everyone wants to have something meaningful to sing about. Scores of songwriters pour their hearts out on record, lay it all on the table, and, honestly, I couldn't fucking care less. However, Leaving Songs combines genuine delivery and unpretentious lyrics that sting like bruises from a vaguely remembered barfight, making it one of the best albums I've heard all year.
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