Chris Difford, Cashmere If You Can

By Kai Shuart

This outing from the former Squeeze member finds him in a very reflective mode .The opening song, “1975,” could be taken as a collection of incidents from various periods of the protagonist’s life. This feeling of a walk down Memory Lane is bolstered by the second song, “Back in the Day,” whose protagonist recounts a misspent youth of getting into trouble and hanging with a rough crowd, not sparing unflattering details such as mugging the elderly and accidentally urinating in bed.

These details related in a humorous manner save the record from being an exercise in melancholy. The tone is further alleviated by spry musical arrangements. Songs that could be quite dirge-like, such as “Sidney Streets,” are helped by very sparse yet pretty arrangements of finger-picked acoustic guitars, brushed drums, accordions, and the occasional piano. And “Like I Did” has a prominent keyboard part that fits in nicely with anything Squeeze did.

If I could find one fault with this record, it might be that Difford’s self-deprecation has a tendency to ever so slightly lapse into neediness. In “Upgrade Me,” for example, the protagonist asks for assurance that he “will not be ignored.”

Other than that, I’d call Cashmere If You Can a warts-and-all look back from a songwriter who not only sees the ridiculous elements in life, but is more than willing to turn the lens on himself.

Cashmere If You Can was released on June 7 via MVD Entertainment Group. Visit Chris Difford’s website for information on how to order the CD.