Last time we heard from Edwyn Collins, on 2010's Losing Sleep, he was surrounded by an auspicious array of accompanying musicians. Johnny Marr, Roddy Frame, and Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy from Franz Ferdinand were among the guests who provided the musical assistance Collins needed during his ongoing recovery from the cerebral hemorrhages he suffered in 2005. His condition means he still requires the help of others in fleshing out his songwriting, but Understated plays out like a crucial step toward finding his muse again. The guests here fill important roles, but are lesser known; it's released on Collins' own label, the newly-formed AED Records; and the predominant lyrical theme is one of triumphant return. There's a sense of fight here, of Collins drawing musical strength from his hell-and-back experiences.
Collins has always liked to juxtapose ostensibly jarring styles, famously matching Chic-style guitars to post-punk sharpness in Orange Juice. His best-known song, "A Girl Like You", found a place where 60s pop, Motown, and the Velvet Underground could co-exist. He's returned to a familiar set of influences for Understated, working in arrangements that have Paul Riser's name all over them, throwing in jangly guitar lines that hark back to the Orange Juice days, constructing grooves that resemble lost Northern Soul workouts. Collins' voice is a little more world-weary with every passing record, giving ballads like "It's a Reason" an extra dose of pathos, in an album already dripping in poignancy and self-reflection.
Still, there are signs that some of the material is a stretch for him to reach, such as certain lines in the countryfied "Down the Line". But even there it's impossible not to be moved by his malaise. "Just understand, I've lost some ground," he croons at one point. So this is a stark record, full of uncomplicated sentiment. It's also one fuelled by a dual feeling of nostalgia, partly abetted by the backward-looking arrangements, and Collins' attempt to address where he is in the world. "Forsooth" and "In the Now" are likely paired together for a reason; the former might be the most spiritual Collins has ever gotten in song, a direct address about being alive and reborn. The latter is the most strident song here, building a deliberate buffer between his past and present selves.
In a sense, Understated feels like a course-setter for how things are going to be in Collins' career from this point onward. He's certainly shed some of the wit and self-deprecation of yore, although when he does get back there it provides respite, a deviation from the healing he's clearly keen to address in song. "I’m a singer, of sorts," is the most welcome line here when it comes, all wrapped up in the humble title track, returning to something resembling the old Edwyn we all fell in love with on that first listen to "Falling and Laughing". But it's important to recognize that he’s not in that place anymore, not even close to it. Orange Juice's debut You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever is beautiful because of its innocence, whereas Understated is bruised by the many experiences that came afterward. It's no lesser record for it, just one that feels like a part in the purging process rather than a place where Collins feels fully at ease.
