Dexys Midnight Runners - LOVE Dexys Midnight Runners

LOVE, Dexys Midnight Runners’ latest, possibly last ever album, is a luminous collection of scenes and reckonings. Stories of family and friends, tales from past and present. All drawn from Kevin Rowland’s life, each an individual jewel, threaded together with love.

Songs begun three decades ago sit alongside those written in the last year. A vivid depiction of Rowland’s Irish immigrant childhood on My Life in England Pt 1; a moving letter to his grandchildren on You’re Alright; a wistful moment at the start of a love affair on I Want To Be Holding You Next Christmas; a pin-perfect portrait of time spent with a dying parent on Once A Man, Twice A Child; the difficulties of relationships when you're older on Old Love. All deeply personal, all true, all here, the full human span of relationships, family and intimate emotion.

The theme of this album, Kevin’s ninth and Dexys’ seventh, gradually emerged as the songs progressed. “I don’t remember when it happened, but I just thought, ‘Hang on, these are all love songs, of different kinds’,” he says. “I knew then: Call it LOVE.” These are love songs, but not of the usual pop style. Not will-she-won’t-she romance, but something more emotional and all-encompassing. Those small moments that illustrate a rollercoaster sweep. “Everyone came at this project with love,” he says. To tell a lifetime of different loves. A love life.

LOVE is also their first album under the Dexys Midnight Runners name since 1985’s Don’t Stand Me Down. “We realised a couple of years ago that some young people know Dexys Midnight Runners from Geno and Come On Eileen, but some that we spoke to were confused by the name Dexys. And some thought Dexys was a different outfit to Dexys Midnight Runners,” says Kevin. “Since Dexys returned in 2012, we’ve always felt what we do is worthy of a young audience, so it was a no-brainer to revert to Dexys Midnight Runners.”

Those familiar with Kevin’s wonderful autobiography Bless Me Father will recognise some of the people in these songs: his dad, his brother, his first love, more recent romances. But this is a Dexys Midnight Runners album, the group of players where Kevin began his music career, and where he works best. So his lyrics are explored and highlighted, lifted to greater heights by the songwriting and creativity of long-time collaborators Sean Read, Mike Timothy and Jim Paterson. There are strings too, arranged by Brian Irving, originally from Belfast.

Fellow Belfast man, DJ and musician David Holmes, is the album’s producer. Holmes had long wanted to work with Kevin and Dexys: “They were the first act I was ever truly obsessed with, the first I saw live.” David’s older sister bought him a Walkman when he was 11, and his first cassette was Searching For The Young Soul Rebels. When Kevin sent him a demo of Once A Man, Twice A Child, written with Sean soon after Dexys’ triumphant 2024 Glastonbury Festival appearance, David was captivated. “His songwriting is so strong,” he says.