Get the latest gossip

BC Camplight: A Sober Conversation review – an eccentric rock opera confronting childhood abuse


The US singer’s seventh album takes his meta-theatrical style almost into showtune territory, with songs about repression, depression and anger

That song alone excavates childhood memories, with Christinzio crunching leaves and finding caterpillars, cutely illustrated by twinkling piano, only for abrupt tonal shifts (siren-like drones, distorted vocals, heavenly choirs) to crash in like intrusive thoughts. The title track veers into showtune territory, shimmying in double time as he employs a kooky variety of voices to tease a “big secret”, but also has a gorgeous, melancholy vocal melody that Sufjan Stevens would be proud of. Single Two Legged Dog, a glam piano-pop duet with the Last Dinner Party’s Abigail Morris, sticks a middle finger up to pity and culminates in a howling crescendo.

Get the Android app

Or read this on The Guardian

Read more on:

Photo of Sober Conversation

Sober Conversation