Product Description Review Described by some wags as "Get Cape. Wet Self. Cry", Sam Duckworth's pants remain manifestly dry throughout his new album. With Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly (an unwieldy but still charming name... just) he's always managed to define himself outside of the wishy-washy encampment, being just that bit too spiky to succumb to weediness, and circumventing the soggiest and snottiest edges of emo and twee. He's the Jens Lekman you might not easily beat in a pub scrap. The influences are diverse enough to draw and keep your attention, keeping your brain busy with identification and speculation (always healthy so long as it's not overpowering, or indicative of slavish derivativeness). Duckworth sounds very British but not self-consciously or self-importantly so – his nearest reference point could be the brilliant (if sometimes simpering) Kings of Convenience, but his sound as it has developed owes more to Britpop, and is bouncier and more daring than his previous work. There are effervescent hints of Madchester here and there, and whiffs of early Blur. Collapsing Cities (with guest spot from Shy FX) is a highlight, with a chorus that begs to be sung along with almost before it's finished. The album is rammed with these insta-hooks. All of This Is Yours (enhanced greatly by Baaba Maal's delicious vocals) has a sneaky Flaming Lips-ish grandeur, switching mood and genre almost from one bar to the next without being overcrowded or showy. It's very confident indeed. Everything is carefully arranged, with just the right little electronic touches, but played with a certain rushing abandon. Duckworth overstretches his voice sometimes, and it can be distracting – he's not a powerful vocalist, and that's fine providing he doesn't strain out of his own range. He'd do well to relax into it more, a la Wayne Coyne. The songs themselves can hardly be faulted, though. Choosing to self-title a non-debut album is always an interesting move, suggestive either of having finally found one's true sound, or being arrogant enough to state as much when you're stagnating. We're fairly safe here – Duckworth sounds happy enough in his own musical skin, a quality which almost always makes for a good listen. CD Description Sam Duckworth is Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly., the Southend-born troubadour who named his solo project after a solution from an old Batman adventure game, surfed the enigma of it to the Top Thirty with his home-made 2006 debut album The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager (an album written and recorded on a self-discovery tour of the UK). He then hooked in Kate Nash and Billy Bragg to guest on the similarly successful 2008 follow up Searching For The Hows And Whys (co- produced with Nitin Sawhney), became a leading figure in the political pop scene (a pub run-in with the BNP prompted Sam to become heavily involved with the Love Music Hate Racism campaign) and helped spark the new wave of modern folk heroes that s brought us Jamie T and Jack Penate. For many less inspired artists that might be the end of their creative thrust. But when Sam came to construct his third album over two years between his Hoxton base and Brixton s Dairy Studios, he found himself with a mountain of fresh and eclectic material with no idea how to fit any of it together. I went through about seven different albums before I got to this one, says Sam, perched on a sofa in his tiny Hoxton studio. There were 100 songs knocking about, all kinds of styles. Even tracks that made the record went through ten or fifteen incarnations. At first you start off thinking I m going to do everything, I ve got a billion ideas, it s going to be completely different . Then you get into a rhythm of playing about with it.