Dave Stewart - The Blackbird Diaries

Dave Stewart, co-founder of the Eurythmics, is a man of many talents. Sitting down to listen to his latest album, beautifully titled The Blackbird Diaries, you'd do well not to expect any of the synthpop constructions Stewart made his name with back in the 80s. What you get instead is an album of soothing, laid-back rock; ranging from blues-laced country tunes to straight up contemporary guitar-pop tunes, perhaps the best ties with Stewart's past come in immense capacity for emotion these thirteen tracks hold.

Bulletproof Vest aches with a kind of heartfelt beauty that holds you enraptured, rocking you slowly back and forth in its comforting arms. The album feels natural, organic, and surprisingly snappy for a record bearing such chilled overtones - there's a real eagerness to the music. 'This was my favourite time ever in the studio,' says Stewart of the album. 'I wrote most of the songs on the spot and recorded all of them in one incredible session lasting five days and nights!' - and the album bears that stamp of immediacy, there's a movement to every track here - you'll find no stagnant pools of musical nothingness here, a problem that plagues so many adult rock records. Indeed, the fact Stewart was able to pen the album so quickly only goes to highlight his considerable song songwriting talent.

Tracks like Beast Called Tame, all raw, snarling guitar, see the album at its most intense, recalling REM at their most powerful. They swagger and stride out, standing proud and tall, setting out the immovable foundations that help bookend the softer centre of the album. Trading guitars in for piano and adding in a delightful touch of female vocals, love ballads like All Messed Up recall The Beautiful South, a sound carried through strongest on to Cheaper Than Free. British Stewart might be, but a distinct Southern lilt tinges The Blackbird Diaries with a distinctly American overtone - it's a transatlantic sound that encompasses a spirit of adventure and confidence.

This is an album of freedom and bold new horizons, but it's also full of good old fashioned storytelling wrapped up in the heart of the songs; on One Way Ticket To The Moon, Stewart sings 'That guy next door is a lot like me, I know he's got a lot of history'. It's simple rhymes like this that spread the charm of the songs out to the listener - suddenly we're all sat round the lounge, enjoying a few drinks, catching up on old times.

The album features, among other things, a co-write with Bob Dylan, and its a telling sign that Stewart's own songwriting carries the same literary style that has come to define Dylan's work. There's a beauty here, a window through to the soul, a window that The Blackbird Diaries keeps open wide. An honest autobiography or a passionately written series of diary entries? That's up to the listener to decide - but through each and every track here Stewart's stories of love and life have never felt more genuine. Wonderfully moving stuff.

The Blackbird Diaries is released on June 27th.