It really was that easy. The former Get Cape. Wear Cape etc etc etc drops the name culled from a Batman computer game, and the rage and trauma of Gotham is exorcised. Also gone are try-hard international kitchen sinks, revealing Southend’s chief tubthumper as the tender, full-blooded songwriter we always knew he secretly had the potential to be. Which isn’t to say that ‘The Mannequin’ isn’t literate and conscientious – it’s just that it’s those things in the good ways, like, say, [a]Bright Eyes[/a]. The best moments, like the great ‘Angels In The Snow’, actually scale those heights.
Dan Martin