TELEVISION PERSONALITIES Beautiful Despair

FIRE 9/10 Deeply affecting home recordings from independent pop royalty One of the more misunderstood songwriters of his generation, Dan Treacy of Television Personalities always had an acute eye for the complexities of the human condition, particularly within an everyday context. Sometimes his songs are deeply personal, such that they’re closer to diary entries, but just as often he’ll paint character portraits of people down on their luck, or take in the current cultural malaise with a broad sweep. The songs on Beautiful Despair, recorded in 1990 between two of Treacy’s overlooked gems, Privilege and Closer To God, cover much of this ground, with remarkable honesty. There are wry songs about Evan Dando (“If You Fly Too High”) and Lawrence of indie legends Felt (“I Like That In A Girl”), but more often Beautiful Despair has Treacy dissecting, almost forensically, his heart and his relationships: sometimes the honesty gets close to discomfiting, but it’s always compelling. Collaborating with Jowe Head on the recordings, the dinky drum machine and gently clanging guitars are still, somehow, rooted in Treacy’s twin loves – mod and psychedelia – but given added bite with Head’s furiously creative accompaniment. Really, though, Beautiful Despair is Treacy’s confessional – and it couldn’t have a more perfect title. Extras: None.