The glorious covers album Let the Record Show: Dexys Do Irish and Country Soul, from 2016, saw Kevin Rowland and co rifling around a very diverse set of songs, from a soul-driven version of Curragh of Kildare to a haunting rendering of Carrickfergus. The record folded in elements of Rowland’s rich Irish roots while reshaping established work in Dexys’ own vein. It is a perfect preface for The Feminine Divine, acting as a reminder of Dexys’ DNA – honouring tradition while pulverising convention.
Inspired in part by Rowland’s interest in elements of eastern philosophies, this new album sees Rowland re-evaluate his attitudes to women, as well as some ideas of masculinity he had been raised with, and the result is a dizzying feast. Rowland originally wrote The One That Loves You in 1991. Employing Big Jim Paterson’s trombone, it is a sweeping riff on an old-fashioned sense of chivalry and an unappealing alpha-male attitude that he unstitches later in the album. It’s Alright Kevin (Manhood 2023) reshapes the song Manhood, which first appeared on the 2003 compilation Let’s Make This Precious, where he elevates the call-and-response element, with backing singers interrogating some of his old ideas to interesting effect, definitively putting the soul into a soul revue.
That sense of soul is everywhere on this album: in the peppering of northern soul on I’m Going to Get Free, with its beautiful organ and orchestration; in the darker rendering of soul on the louche title song, where Rowland seems to channel the spirit of Serge Gainsbourg; and in the funkier end of soul apparent on My Goddess, with its slow-burning raggedy looseness, which brings to mind George Clinton – and complements the slinkiness of Dance with Me.
There are a few wonky moments, such as the 1990s-influenced Coming Home and Goddess Rules, a kind of meditation on submission, but a really intriguing, compelling idea is at work on this record, which is distilled in the Debussy-inflected piano-led My Submission. As Rowland sings that he will “dedicate my life to serving you” he takes his vocal performance to somewhere thrilling and vital, accessing both a delicacy and a richness. It is probably one of Dexys’ best songs, part-tattered Irish ballad but fully brilliant, with Rowland meeting himself again, yes, with a deeper understanding but also with his (and Dexys’) trademark sense of curiosity and creativity unbowed.
