Ask paul heaton how many songs he’s written and he’ll tell you he’s not really sure. Perhaps that’s unsurprising: this summer it’s 40 years since the housemartins released their debut album, hull: 0 london: 4, peaking at number 3 in britain. Subsequently, he’s released, in various configurations with the housemartins and the beautiful south, solo and with jacqui abbot, not to mention as biscuit boy another 21 studio albums, plenty going gold, some multi-platinum, as they’ve risen to the charts’ highest reaches. For each, moreover, he’ll have written many many more songs than he’ll ever include. Now, less than two years since the mighty several itself his sixth album to go top 5 in a dozen years this prolific, poetic observer of human nature is back with another fifteen gems. I've had stuff coming in and out of my brain since i was 17 or 18, he laughs, but i’m surprised the tunes keep popping into my head. You've got to get it out of your system, though. Writer’s block just sounds made-up. You don't get plumber's block. If your toilet's full of shit, you don't think, do you know what i can't get my head around this.’ You either call a plumber or do it yourself. That's how i see it with songs. Don't leave it in there. Just get it out. Even if it's shit. To observers of the manchester-dwelling songwriter, such self-effacement will be familiar. Few artists are as modest, a spirit heaton carries over into his lifestyle, whether taking the tram to the studio when’s it raining o...
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