Willie Dowling - The Simpleton (2024)

Back in the spring, CJ Wildheart played a show on his solo tour—he played some Honeycrack songs during his set. I’m on record, but I’m happy to say it again: their “Proziac’ record is one of the best ever made. Someone shouted for a Honeycrack reunion (it wasn’t me, I swear!), and CJ replied that “Willie won’t do it. He’s happy sitting by his lake in France.”

A little later in the year, at the same venue, Dowling (and his incredible suit) opened for The Quireboys (a band he’d been in). Because their current keyboard player was unwell, he reprised his old role.

And then there’s that piano in The Wildhearts’ “My Baby Is A Headfuck.” That’s Dowling, too.

The reason for mentioning that instead of going straight into “The Simpleton” is, well, simple. You see, those bands are some of my favorites, and Willie Dowling has been in and around them.

But take a listen, and you’ll hear that he’s very much his own man. “Let Us Begin” builds and broods before exploding with the air of musical theatre, yet he’s not playing a part—not at all.

Rather, “Long Drop Down” is entirely authentic. One of several overtly political songs throughout the album, Dowling has been vocal in his opposition to both Brexit and the fact he’s anti-Tory (as any person of right mind should be), and this one happily returns to those themes.

The title track contains the thought “I ain’t woke, like all the fools around me,” but you can hear it and not hear a man with a gift for melody, a fine voice, and also a brilliant piano player. The harmonies here are pure ’70s glam rock, too.

And he’s lost none of his ability to chronicle the human condition: “Sadie Goldman” is a simply gorgeous ballad, as a single woman looks back on her broken marriage and wonders about the choices she made.

By virtue of it being a piano-based record, it has a different vibe from nearly all rock ‘n’ roll, yet like Ben Folds, “The Cure,” and the likes, it beats with a rock ‘n’ roll heart.

But the piano (perhaps like the lap steel) has such a way of expressing sadness. “Under The Gaslight” seems to do that, which only serves to make the more expansive tracks like “The Gravy Train” more powerful—and it continues the acerbic way of writing that so colours this.

The melody, the tunes, the whole package of these songs make “The Simpleton” so good, and if it’s world-weary, like “Down The Slide,” then there’s a lot to be weary about right now.

The single “I Killed My Imaginary Friend” could be a Sparks song at points (that’s meant as a compliment), and it’s as good now as when Dowling played it at the aforementioned gig.

Occasionally (and most certainly not when I played it as a boy), the piano can sound just beautiful. It does during “In The Ocean,” which seems to want to escape into its thoughts and away from this. Maybe to that lake CJ talked about, or maybe not.Perhaps I’m misunderstanding the metaphors, but then isn’t music meant to be interpreted in any way one chooses?

And there are many layers to this, as there always seem to be with Wille Dowling. One of music’s most mercurial men, he’s done it again, and “The Simpleton” is both very clever and extremely good.