Album: Losing Sleep
Label: Heavenly Records
Rating: 3.5/5
It’s amazing that singer Collins can speak, let alone release a new LP. In 2005, Collins suffered two cerebral hemorrhages that forced him to undergo neurological rehabilitation. Astonishingly through sheer perseverance and dedication, Edwyn wrote and recorded Losing Sleep while still recovering. The result is his most profound and personal piece in his 35 year career.
Propelled heavily by electric guitar driven pop-esque sonics, Losing Sleep is an honest and emotional journey into the soul of a man ravaged by fate. Deviating its time between heartfelt retrospection and melancholic tenderness, the album is a humbling attempt at coming to grips with present-day realities unforeseen in the recent past.
Though, at times, it does have the tendency to slip into a stream of tedious redundancy as a result of overly simplistic lyricism and sound, the album never sinks into parody or self-pity.
It is instead the work of a man struggling to regain a sense of himself in a world now foreign to him. Such songs as “Losing Sleep”, “What is My Role” and “Searching for the Truth” rely heavily on literal, rather than metaphorical, modes of expression to justify Collins’ continued existence on this planet.
Though the album greatly concerns itself with deep philosophical questions, Losing Sleep is also a highly romantic ode to the nature of love. “In Your Eyes” and “I Still Believe in You” are highly symbolic of Collins finally coming to terms with what is truly important in his own personal world.
Masked by its simplicity, the album is instead a highly reflective journey into Edwyn Collins’ recovering soul.
