Anyone who witnessed the mortifying interrogation of Pete Doherty on the Late Late Show recently will recall Pat Kenny patronisingly asking the former Rehab King what he wants from his life. Pete’s answer? “I’ve a deep rooted determination to write great songs and I’ve yet to…” he trailed off modestly with his perfected wide-eyed-lost-boy look that has helped his fans to forgive him a thousand sins and no-shows.
Pete’s debut solo effort, Grace/Wastelands, has brought his self-proclaimed dreams closer to attainment than it seems even he realises. The fact that Dohertyites will recognise many of the tracks as Libertines-era demos only serves to bolster his newfound focus, actualised by his ability to identify and amass songs that have been floating around in his semi-consciousness for years. Pete has drafted in the help of producer Stephen Street and revered ex-Blur guitarist, Graham Coxon. Their input does wonders for the structure of the album as Pete whimsically dips into various genre pools. Left to his own devices, chances are that the troubled troubadour’s wastrel alter-ego could have warped his album into a meandering vanity project. His subject matter channels the persona that has long been synonymous with Pete; that of a poetic anglophile yearning for the romanticism of a faded Britannia. His saving grace is that his songs are nothing short of brilliant.
Album opener Arcadie is a jaunty number full of quasi-Dickensian lyricism that stops short of pretension thanks to the sincerity so apparent in Pete’s woozy vocals. Sheepskin Tearaway is a heartfelt euphemism for Pete’s drug use; a subject that thankfully isn’t indulgently dwelled on throughout the album’s entirety. But perhaps the most rousing of all tracks is New Love Grows on Trees, a darkly elusive song which contains the lyrics “If you’re still alive / When you’re 25 / Should I kill you? / You asked me to.”
Gone is the shambling baby that kept many a paparazzo in the job and in his place is a more mature and focused man who is capable of turning out an album as poignantly introspective as Grace/Wastelands. Oh, and he’s called Peter now.
