Chris stills

Don’t Be Afraid KOBALT/PIAS

Stephen’s son channels Queen, not dad’s CSN.

The 12 years since Chris Stills’s previous album seem to have ended in a bumpy romantic ride. His laconic cowboy croon certainly suits most kinds of heartbreak, belonging to the warmly dissolute balladeer school of Harry Nilsson, Fred Neil and Jimmy Webb. What’s most impressive, though, is his eclectic, precisely arranged style.

The Rufus Wainwright-esque piano ballad In Love Again has the nerve to scale stacked Queen harmonies and glam guitars. The restrained beginning of Lonely Nights kicks into Philadelphia Freedom-era Elton, before Stills enjoys Blame Game’s blunt force new wave while calling out his nation’s ‘fascist leader’.

This magpie mind is the convincing, appealing expression of someone who was born into classic rock.