Michael Blyth & The Wild Braid

★★★★ Indigo Train AV8. CD/DL

Grizzled 69-year-old’s aptly grizzled debut.

Once a prePsychedelic Furs bandmate of Richard Butler, Michael Blyth fled to California in 1979, where he slipped into alcoholism, homelessness and jail. In 1994, he returned to London and retrained as a rehab counsellor without ever quite abandoning music. Now, comes Indigo Train, a collaboration with Cast/Shack bassist Pete Wilkinson which sets Blyth’s wracked growl – think a less wry I’m Your Manera Leonard Cohen – against fluttering Americana backdrops, all leavened by Sarah Ozelle’s cooing backing vocals. Its most gung-ho moment, Something I Said, is a glimpse into Blyth’s heart of darkness, but the abiding theme is of redemption in life’s twilight. It comes together on spartan closer When Day Is Done, where Blyth slowly rasps “you surprise me every day”. The simplicity is as uplifting as it is moving.