The bittersweet problem with being considered a national treasure in this country is that our treasury is empty. Over five albums and a 20-year career, singer-songwriter Sean Millar – formerly of The Cute Hoors, but long trading solo as Doctor Millar – has always been a critics’ darling, but never a commercial success. You could wallpaper Priory Hall with his ecstatic reviews, but you’ll never hear him on daytime radio – a grave injustice considering the consistently superb quality of his musical output. Hopefully this sixth long-player, the follow-up to 2010’s typically acclaimed Of The People, will finally change the game for him.
With a blurred image of an old cassette tape on the cover, C48 is so named because it’s both the exact length of this 12-song collection, and the age – 48 – Millar was when recording began. Produced by Joe Chester (who also plays piano) these songs were mostly recorded live using original 1960’s hand-built valve desks. Millar’s stated intention was to recreate the warm organic feel of 1970s folk albums, and with the help of Steve Wickham on violin, Cian Murphy on double bass, and top London jazz-percussionist Mark Hugget, he has succeeded in spades. The playing is so intimate that at times it sounds as if the band are in the corner of the room. Vocally, he’s never been better. ‘You Fill My Heart With Greed’ builds until he sounds like Dylan before he shot his larynx to shit.
You get the sense that Millar has truly suffered for his art, and there are shadows of Cohen, MacGowan and Bukowski haunting his beautifully bruised lyrics. Deceptively gentle album opener ‘Wake Up Outside London’ is a close relation of the classic ‘Alcohol Problem’ from his 1996 debut The Bitter Lie. “You wake up outside London/ sleeping on the floor/ of a house that you could swear/ you’ve never seen before.”
As he nears 50, Millar seems to be regretting his life choices. “All your friends have settled down/ Boy, what’s wrong with you?/ They’ve got jobs and houses/ they’ve got wives and families, too.” But it’s the sadly crooned refrain that makes this truly memorable: “You button up your coat because/ your shirt is stained with wine.”
The mood is contemplative throughout. It’s not all dour and miserable (‘I’ve Never Loved Somebody’ and ‘Dancing With The Dogs’ are soulful love songs), but the best and most heart-breaking track on C48 is the country tearjerker ‘Don’t Take It Out On The Boy’. Millar is singing directly to a former friend, explaining that he won’t visit his home anymore because of the abusive way he treats his son. “Don’t take it out on the boy/ because I can’t bear/ to just stand there/ while you yank the hair on the boy.” With such a universal theme, you could easily imagine this becoming a ‘Cats in the Cradle’ type admonishment anthem about bad fathering. “I’m not judging you, man/ But one day you’ll be dead/ and me I’ll be dead, too/ and all that’ll be left of you/ and all that you went through/ will be that boy.”
With C48, Doctor Millar has created a masterpiece. Another one. It’s available, along with his entire brilliant back catalogue, on his website doctormillar.com. I urge you to pay this good Doctor a visit.

Keytrack: 'Don't Take It Out On The Boy'

Out On September 26