Perhaps the title is a winking allusion to the long time between 's solo records: disregarding the 2012 EP , he's been silent since 1999's , choosing to shelve his solo career when reunited in 2005. At the close of the millennium, was pursuing the traditional path of a balladeer, taking his cues from in particular and latter-day in general. A decade-plus later, he's happy to consider new pop trends only in passing -- "Let Me Go" has a touch of the big folk of and ; there's just a hint of on "God" -- and while away his time making stately, classicist British pop. Here, -- specifically , but with a bit of -- and early provide the template and, filtered through 's exacting craft and resolutely middlebrow taste, he winds up with a handsome album that sounds a bit like a good early LP. This isn't meant as a dismissal: has a knack for mildly ambitious piano ballads that gain strength from their hazily arty design as well as his studied melodicism. This, almost more than 's 2013 , captures what was good about post- pop singer/songwriters in the mid-'70s, when the best songsmiths never let their ambitions get in the way of a good tune. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine