Elvis Costello returns to punk with ‘Helsinki sound’

ELVIS COSTELLO continues to take unexpected musical turns. Having embraced lush arrangements on 2018’s Look Now, an album made with his band The Imposters, he’s returning to the fury of his punk years on a single recorded alone and rushed out with a haste that has become the norm during lockdown. With Costello (left) on guitar, bass, drums and organ in the style of Paul McCartney’s first solo album in 1970, No Flag is a thundering rocker punctuated by distorted guitars and strange sound-effects. Costello flew to Finland to record the song four months ago because he wanted to be ‘somewhere where nobody knew [him]’. There may be more to come from ‘the Helsinki sound’. Another ‘instalment’ — a new album perhaps? — is due next month.

Travis have also been busy in isolation, with singer Fran Healy making an animated video for the Glasgow band’s new single, A Ghost, with help from his son Clay, 14. Driven by jangling guitars, the track is a tunefully upbeat taster for new album 10 Songs.

Erasure are on the comeback trail, too, with Vince Clarke and Andy Bell having flown, pre-lockdown, to Atlanta, Georgia, to cut new single Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling), a retro-synth number reiterating Clarke’s knack for clever chord changes.

And Yusuf/Cat Stevens has reunited with producer Paul Samwell-Smith and guitarist Alun Davies for a fresh take on 1970’s Where Do The Children Play? Recorded in a disused French factory, it’s set to feature alongside Wild World and Father And Son on a new version of the album Tea For The Tillerman.