"I do not read newspapers, they are troublemakers," sings
Morrissey
on the title track of
I Am Not a Dog on a Chain
, echoing the sentiment he laid bare on "Spent the Day in Bed," the first single pulled from 2017's
Low in High School
, which was his last album of original material prior to this 2020 set.
is working once again with
Joe Chiccarelli
-- the pair struck up a collaboration back in 2014 with
World Peace Is None of Your Business
-- and picking up the threads they left hanging on
, pushing the sounds and ideas that hovered in the margins into the center. The shift is apparent when "Jim Jim Falls" kicks off the album with a frenetic electronic squawk, the funkiest -- and synthiest -- sound to be heard on a
album in many years, if not ever. The rest of
follows suit, with
pushing his rhythms hard and embracing a bevy of adventurous, steely, and ornate textures, not to mention extending an invitation to
Thelma Houston
-- the disco queen known for "Don't Leave Me This Way" -- to wail on "Bobby, Don't You Think They Know." Occasionally, he slides into familiar territory -- "What Kind of People Live in These Houses" revives a
Smiths
-ian jangle -- but these tracks almost feel like mile markers left to illustrate how far the rest of the album wanders. This aural rush is so bracing, it nearly disguises how
showcases a
who seems comfortable in his role as a cantankerous curmudgeon taking jabs at former allies. Set aside this inclination toward sneering solipsism, which not only characterizes but enlivens nearly every song, and
is one of the better latter-day
records: the sense of musical daring reveals how placid and complacent he's been for the better part of a decade. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine