Tindersticks - The Waiting Room

There's always been a cinematic quality to Tindersticks' music. In the early days, more than two decades ago, it was more arty, black and white bedsit drama. Now, on this tenth album, it veers from the trembling romance of instrumental opener 'Follow Me' (a cover of the soundtrack to the 1962 film, Mutiny On The Bounty) to a blurred but beautiful montage of late night revelry and ensuing recrimination.
Tindersticks may be on the go for 25 years, but there is no sign of any artistic atrophy just yet. If anything, The Waiting Room is amongst their most musically ambitious moves to date, as Stuart Staples' mob get their funk on, even managing to make slap-bass sound palatable ('Were We Once Lovers?'). Their trademark sound is augmented by some wonderful horns, arranged by fellow Nottingham musician Julian Siegel, nowhere more magically than on the staccato soul of the mesmerising 'Help Yourself'.
On 'Second Chance Man' and the haunting title track, Staples leaves his trademark baritone at home, and does what for him must be a falsetto, but still sounds like a rake being dragged over a wheezing accordion, as he recounts his tales of scar-crossed lovers. The Serge Gainsbourg-esque 'Like Only Lovers Can', meanwhile, is the kind of love song that exudes melancholy from every syllable, squeezing tears from every killer couplet. The most moving moment, however, is undoubtedly the heart-stopping 'Hey Lucinda', a stunning duet with Lhasa De Sela, the Montreal-based singer who died tragically from cancer on New Year's Day 2010, aged just 37.
The almost spoken word soliloquy of 'How He Entered' is an immaculate collection of images, and proves Staples could have quite the literary career if he ever packs in the music. And the stunning 'We are Dreamers!' has the frontman trading phrases with Jehnny Beth from Savages, while the sonic backdrop morphs from broody intensity to existential despair over the course of five minutes.
It's hard to imagine listening to Tindersticks on the beach on a hot summer's day, but as a soundtrack to bleak January storms and too-short days, this is just about perfect.

The Waiting Room is out now.