Teaming with
Greg Kurstin -- a producer best-known for helming
Adele's Grammy-winning
25, but also a musician in his own right, collaborating with
Inara George in the savvy retro duo
the Bird and the Bee -- is a signal from
Paul McCartney that he intends
Egypt Station, his 18th solo album, to be a thoroughly modern affair. It is, but not in the way that the glitzy 2013 album
New, with its fair share of
Mark Ronson productions, was.
Kurstin doesn't specialize in gaudiness, he coaxes his collaborators to act like a bright, colorful version of their best selves, which is what he achieves with
McCartney here. Apart from "Fuh You" -- a vulgar throwaway novelty recorded with
Ryan Tedder --
Egypt Station is a handsome and clever collection where
McCartney hits many familiar marks but the difference is, he gets there in a different fashion than before. Perhaps the mini-suites, pleas for peace, rocking boogie, and romantic ballads are the very definition of
McCartney's wheelhouse, but he takes some subtle chances here, both in the arrangement and, especially, the lyrics. All the slower songs are peppered with haunting images of darkness creeping at the edges, while
McCartney revives the carnality that marked "Press" -- not just on the straightforward "Fuh You" but on "Come on to Me," a considerably better song than the
Tedder exercise. Such twists are welcome but what's satisfying about
Egypt Station is what's always satisfying about a
McCartney record: the hooks and imagination that are so rampant seem effortless. The thing that
Kurstin brings to the table is a refinement, letting
McCartney's ideas shine incandescently while also revealing that a record this clever isn't tossed off, it's crafted in every respect. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
![Clarity [LP]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602547473646_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Clarity [LP]")
