Album Review: Alex Cameron, Late To Set

No other artist can do what Alex Cameron does. For the uninitiated, the Australian singer-songwriter became an underground internet sensation back in 2013, which led to the online release of his debut album, Jumping The Shark.

Since then, he’s become a fringe favourite for his high-concept albums – records that tell the stories of sex workers, drug addicts, horny lovers and internet addicts, all from a position of zero judgement.

Late To Set is a solid fifth album. Sonically, the nine songs embrace a panoply of genres – typical of Cameron’s work – ranging from indie-rock and bossa nova to jazz and gloomy industrial. His lyrics cover issues like the toppling of historic monuments (‘Statue Down’), illicit affairs (‘Stand In Man’), and wayward hormones mixed with astrology (‘Testosterone in Blue‘).

As on each of his previous albums, Cameron occasionally breaks free from the griminess, irony and humour for a handful of anthems so sincere that they shake up the whole concept of the record. On Late to Set, both anthems come at the very end, with the soaring ‘Red Hook Rain’ and the chaotically beautiful ‘Violent Man’.

8/10