So, I was thinking about the English eccentric. Not one in particular but the general concept. The template if you like. Vivian Stanshall and even Morrissey (and how it grieves me even to mention that effete musical icon) seem to fit that template while Andrew Lloyd Webber and Mike Oldfield don't really and that takes us on to the case of Mark Northfield.
I remember his previous album "Ascendant" well. A touch theatrical but well presented, it marked him out as a musician who knows that, in the end, quality counts. It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that this EP, tellingly called "The Death of Copyright", shows that once more our Mr. Northfield uses precision where others would use brute force. That said, there is more than a touch of grumpy old man syndrome creeping into his lyrics as evidenced by the title track even though he indulges in gloriously pretentious cabaret instead of impersonating Victor Meldrew. He then ploughs a field full of ennui into a cover of Abba's "The Day Before You Came" turning it into the kind of song that La Morrissey would simply adore.
"Headlonging", on the other hand, could easily find itself the subject of a dancefloor remix by a deranged German such is the oblique focus that is to be found in its neo classical style and this EP's closer "The Forecaster" neatly returns Mr. Northfield to his comfort zone of musical theatre as he bids us adieu.
There's always room for another eccentric and Mark Northfield sounds like he is shaping up to be one given the evidence of "The Death Of Copyright" EP.