I’ve only been a fan of Scott Walker since ‘The Drift’ was released in 2006. Maybe I’m always late to the party. On the other hand, who has even heard of Scott Walker? A lot of people apparently. He had mega-hits in Britain as a member of The Walker Brothers in the mid 60’s. His first three solo albums charted too. I’ve listened to ‘The Drift’ lots but my interest was really piqued after watching the documentary “Scott Walker: 30th Century Man“. I figured that his earlier work, especially the teen-idol phase of this career was only interesting because it was so contrary to the rather difficult music he executed so masterfully on ‘The Drift’ and its predecessor ‘Tilt’. Wrong. Scott’s dark and doomy talent was there from the start. He credits Jacques Brel as the inspiration for turning away from pop and towards an uncompromising pursuit of his own artistic vision. He performed songs by Brel on albums that also featured his own songwriting.

Scott Walker had one of the most memorable signing voices in pop music. He said that he wanted the vocals on ‘The Drift’ to just denote a man, singing. Indeed, his voice occupies those songs but doesn’t completely fill them. It’s the sound, that wash of beautiful noise and the exquisite sense of terror that can’t be forgotten.

It was 11 years between “Tilt” and “The Drift”. I hope it doesn’t mean we’ve got 8 more years until the next LP drops. I’m ready for it now.