Andy Bell - Torsten the Beautiful Libertine (2016)

Erasure's Andy Bell presents his 6th solo album 'Torsten, The Beautiful Libertine', a follow up to 2014's groundbreaking and critically acclaimed album and Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, 'Torsten, The Bareback Saint'. Andy states, "Torsten seems to me like a dream that has come true! I was told the piece was especially written with me in mind & I really believe that! So many aspects of the various songs resonate with parts of my life so I know I was there / am here! There is a melancholic beauty held within the songs & I think I've had enough heartache & painful soul searching to do them justice but have managed to retain a certain naïveté in spite of these experiences! Torsten bears witness to these scars." On the album Andy assumes the character of Torsten who is described as a 'polysexual semi-immortal'. Torsten has had, over time, many lovers and friends whom ultimately he has outlived. That he himself survives is a bittersweet truth, but it is with an increasingly melancholic emotional distance from people. The album is a wonderfully evocative exposition of the mind, mirth and mania of an 'everyman' who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances. The songs effortlessly combine pop and theatricality in their lush arrangements and Andy's voice has never been so dramatically expressive.