Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2010

Courtesy of Hostess Entertainment

Thanks to Japan’s often surprising interest in the British rock scene, Carl Barat needs little introduction here. As one of two pivotal members of The Libertines, the now legendary garage rock band, he is well known to Japanese audiences. Benefiting from his good looks, he is also probably a lot more popular here than erstwhile cohort Pete Doherty.

A guerilla gig (a.k.a. busking session) at the opening of Top Shop in Shinjuku in September saw scenes of near pandemonium, while Barat’s solo gig at Shibuya Club Quattro in November sold out soon after being announced. Fans without tickets now have to hope that his support slot for the Manic Street Preachers tour around the same time will be confirmed.

But while continuing to capitalize on his Libertines fame—the group temporarily reunited for UK festival dates this summer—Barat is also keen to move on musically, with a new eponymous solo album that radically departs from the guitar rock with which he is associated.

“This is the first album I’ve done that is kind of introspective rather than escapist,” Barat tells Metropolis during his recent visit to Tokyo, also explaining that the disc was composed on piano rather than guitar. “As a writer, you fall into habits. As soon as I pick up a guitar, my hands form the same sorts of shapes. With the piano, it’s a whole different landscape, really, and you just find yourself going in directions you wouldn’t normally.”

Produced by Leo Abrahams, a cultured musician who has worked with the likes of Brian Eno and Brett Anderson, and with plenty of classical strings courtesy of his girlfriend, Carl Barât may surprise fans with its richly eclectic influences.

The first single, “Run with the Boys,” which Barat describes as a song “that refers to the bands I’ve been in and the lifestyle I’ve led,” sounds like mid-period Morrissey moonlighting for Dexy’s Midnight Runners or The Style Council. “The Fall” crosses a broken gypsy tango with French cabaret music—think Serge Gainsbourg or Jacques Brel.

Elsewhere, there are Scott Walker-ish arrangements, hints of Tom Waits, mawkish trumpets and the occasional flurry of polka. It’s all smoothly crafted together, even though the album was written and recorded in a comparatively short time.

“I started ‘Run with the Boys’ and ‘So Long My Lover’ last year,” Barat recalls. “But then I left them and I didn’t do anything until April this year. And then I wrote everything.”

In addition to forging new collaborations since splitting from The Libertines and the post-Libertines Dirty Pretty Things, Barat has also changed his musical intake. Recent iPod interests include Bonnie Prince Billy’s album I See a Darkness, Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs, Leonard Cohen’s Greatest Hits, and Jeff Buckley (“If you’re in the right mood, that can be quite poignant,” he says).

The reason the new solo album works, despite its bewildering diversity, is the cohesive narrative that runs throughout, from darkly playful opening track “The Magus” to the somber optimism of closer “Ode to a Girl,” which weaves all the musical strands together.

“Well, I guess I wanted the album to be an album rather than two singles and a bunch of fillers,” Barat says. “So it does take on its own sort of conceptual shape, about frivolity, finding love, enduring loss, and finding love again.”

The overall picture that emerges is one of growing artistic maturity. Barat is no longer hiding behind the racket, clichés and addictions of the conventional rock band, which he freely admits was a way of prolonging adolescence.

“It did feel like that for me,” he agrees. “I wouldn’t say that’s true in everybody’s case. But, yeah, I was definitely stuck in a bit of a rut, which is why I had to end that way of life, hence ‘Run with the Boys.’ Stepping away from big loud guitars stops you hiding behind that. It wasn’t always like that, but it kind of ended up like that. A loud guitar was just expected, along with a leather jacket, some whisky and a cigarette.”

Carl Barat

Former Libertines frontman goes solo. Nov 30, 7pm, ¥5,500. Club Quattro, Shibuya. Tel: Creativeman 03-3462-6969.