Former model Donald Cumming was, from 2006 to 2013, the frontman of New York City band The Virgins.
Setting out their stall by supporting the likes of Iggy Pop, Sonic Youth and Patti Smith, The Virgins were gritty NYC youth incarnate, yet Cumming has said he didn’t see his future as an adult musician pretending to be a rock’n’roll teenager.
Such an outlook balances the occasional unsteadiness of his debut solo album.
Cumming channels a healthy mix of classic Dire Straits-era Mark Knopfler (no, wait, come back!) on Game of the Heart and Sometimes Sweet Susan, and NYC's very own reprobate, Johnny Thunders, on songs such as Scarecrow (which also owes a debt to Television's Marquee Moon).
The album’s mix of off-centre and mainstream is genuinely intriguing, and it’s to Cumming’s credit that each sounds valid.
