by Bradley Donalson
Break out your platform shoes, polyester, and sequins because disco is back! Jimmy Somerville, Scottish born singer, has released his new album Homage, which consists of completely authentic disco music.
Somerville is most known for his falsetto voice and his work with groups like Bronski Beat and The Communards, as well as his solo career. He also made a name for himself by being an openly gay singer in the ’80s when the sociopolitical atmosphere around LGBT rights was pressured, to say the best. The Bronski Beat’s biggest hit, “Smalltown Boy,” is thought to be at least somewhat autobiographical about Somerville’s leaving his hometown. The song dealt with issues of homophobia, bullying, and loneliness. An international hit, the song became a gay anthem.
Now Somerville is digging into his childhood and making the album based on the music he grew up with. Horns, strings, bass, guitar, drums, and vocals all groove into the past and bring a real sense of disco to the entire album. Up-tempo dance numbers like “Some Wonder” or “Travesty” just make you want to dance under a mirror ball, while the more mellow and relaxing moods in “The Core” or “Learned to Talk” wash over you, taking you for a ride on their waves. Somerville claims that he’s been waiting his whole career—31 years—to make this album, but he never thought he could. Now Homage is out and ready to take people back to a different time and introduce disco to the new group of young boys and girls. Either way, we can all embrace Somerville’s groove in what he called “an all-too-easily derided sound.”
Homage is currently available on iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify. More at membran.net and jimmysomerville.co.uk.
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