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After the 80s electro dabblings of Black Affair and King Biscuit Time's dub-wise folk, this is Mason's first album under his own name, and it's likely no coincidence that he's never sounded as close to his old band. Produced with Sugarbabes collaborator Richard X, Boys Outside turns The Beta Band's spectral, pastoral jams into electronic soul, sharing both the group's relish for surprising musical detail and Mason's unique ability to make despairing love an attractive lifestyle choice.
Like a hangdog cartoon character, Mason has always walked around with a black cloud above his head, except here there is little comic value to be had. Written in the wake of a 2006 breakdown that saw him post the message "I've had enough. Over and out" on MySpace then disappear for two weeks of self-harm and weighing up his options for ending it all (he claims he drove around Fife looking for trees to crash into at speed), Boys Outside isn't exactly part of his therapy, but it is certainly a product of it. Understand My Heart, Am I Just a Man, I Let Her In and others deal with the end of a long-term relationship and the darkness that regularly descends on Mason (in the case of single Lost & Found it refers directly to suicide), and if free download All Come Down gives a sense that he is currently at least happy with being unhappy, Hound On My Heel's minimal electro pulse closes the album acknowledging everything could go tits up at any moment.
Boys Outside sometimes soars with joyous detail–the choral wash in the background of Understand My Heart, for instance, the like of which hasn't been spotted since 10cc's I'm Not In Love–and sometimes slightly misfires–the therapy babble of Stress Position. But this is the most balanced album of Mason's career, or certainly the least precipitous. There is still a yawning void beneath him, but for once it doesn't sound as if he's about to fall into it, and you can't help but share his relief. --Andy Fyfe
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Customer Reviews
That's not the case with this collection. When I first had a listen to the previews above I thought it sounded a bit cold, but when I heard the whole songs they revealed themselves to be warm, beautiful and catchy. Sad but gently uplifting.
I buy way too many albums but this really is a standout.
Go get this gorgeous record. It keeps getting better.
Steve Mason might be happiest being in the distance but Boys Outside is an incredible companion. This is an amazing, highly personal
record that emits real emotion. Not the nebulous grasping at platitudes of overblown Coldpatrol gestures but real raw-knuckle hurt, grief
and redemption. Boys Outside is the kind of record Nick Drake would make if he'd lived through adulthood. It doesn't sound like Nick Drake it sounds like the best pieces of 3Eps filtered through wisdom, melody and deep musical space. 'Am I Just A Man In Love" "I Let Her In"
"All Come Down". All masterpieces of introspection filtered through Richard X's Screamadelica meets Dennis Wilson production.
For the last ten years lonely boys in jumpers have been trying to make out that singer-songwriting is detuning a guitar and showing your feminine side to field full of people being twee.
Ignore all that. This is bruised music that's lived a little and come back from the brink, and listening to it makes you feel like you've made a new friend.
This is a real 21st Century masterpiece for any music lover.
You know the real thing when you hear it
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