Patrick Wolf The Magic Position by: Kev Lavery Sun:22-Jul-07 Label: Loog Year: 2007 WB rating 81 out of 100

The Magic Position, Wolf’s third, is an incredibly concise album; from ‘Overture’ to ‘Finale’ Wolf’s audio assault never lets up, never rests. There is almost constant movement through this album, lilting through Wolf’s various emotions and moods. Predominantly saturated with instruments and layered sounds, riffs are everywhere – horns, voice, keyboards and anything else that will make noise – making this a brilliantly produced and lush journey. But despite Wolf’s gamble towards over-arranging, The Magic Position avoids the too-many cooks-in-the-kitchen debacle; never is it muddied, the instruments are clear, the structures complex but thought out, the end result: a joy to listen to.

Wolf’s voice, along with his somewhat chaotic style, is an acquired taste. It is not that his singing is totally without precedent, it is, quite simply, an updated croon and on first listen it sounds put-on. Given that Wolf’s music is so theatrical and his arrangements are so grand this voice makes sense; but, over the course of the entire album, this can become a little much. It is here that Wolf can be compared to Rufus Wainwright: both artists have incredible voices, lush arrangements, and a very specific personal style that is almost instantly recognisable. You can, however, tire of both artists distinctive warbles if you overindulge; and don’t we all.

There aren’t really any weaknesses on this album. Only the title track bears any chance of grating over time and this will only occur if Wolf’s pop star does shine as brightly as seems likely. ‘The Stars’ elicits a bizarre feeling from the listener by sounding altogether very familiar. It does, very strangely, bear some tuneful similarities with ‘So Long, Farewell’ from The Sound of Music – especially the riff being played by the violin – and as such sounds eerily familiar.

‘Enchanted’, in its two minutes and seven seconds, is the only song on the album in which Wolf relaxes his arranging. It is, as the title suggests, an old style love song. Wolf’s crooning and piano playing shines here and, as lush as the arrangements on this album are, this song showcases all too briefly the restraint which Wolf possesses but often doesn’t employ. The wall of noise that engulfs a majority of the album is, in itself, very accomplished but, after ‘Enchanted’, the subtler skills of Wolf may leave many listeners hoping to hear the more stripped versions that dominated earlier recordings.

It is strange, with all these doubts about Wolf, that he comes across so honest. His music is both pretentious and humble. It is as if Patrick Wolf constructs albums by laying his psyche out on a table to be reconstructed into chords, electronic beats, arrangements, melodies, and lyrics. This is an album of incredible instrumentation on top of overtly electronic beats. The title, The Magic Position, can be read as a comment on how to construct an album. It sits atop a pyramid of musical styles, balancing confidently and daring to shift its weight at a whim’s desire. It is an amazing achievement for Wolf who succeeds where he should fall flat on his face; his talent for arranging grounds an album that in the hands of another artist would be, frankly, unlistenable. There are points where this incredibly orchestral, over-the top music is a bit much but, to tell you the truth, so is Patrick Wolf.