Everything Is Borrowed

Another side of The Streets personality

Mike Skinner, or The Streets is one of the brightest examples of how sincerity and frankness combined with the personal experience can serve a base of everything in one's creative work. His third creation The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living of 2006 has brought him a reputation of a person who does not hide anything concerning his hardships and problems, from the heavy load of fame to relations with drugs. Yet today two more years later the artist makes another step forward in the respect of the stylistic variety of his music and demonstrates another side of his personality to us. The side of its development, to be more precise. His fourth record Everything Is Borrowed presents the confessions of a man who decides to think his mistakes over, make a review of his values and in general finally think of life's meaning. Yet it is most probable that these topics are so boring to many that they just will not stand to have another record of the kind. It should not be forgotten, however, that we are dealing with Mike Skinner here, whose works have never yet been what they seem at first sight, and Everything Is Borrowed is not an exception in this respect.

The sounding on Everything Is Borrowed is softer and more refined

Each of the tracks on Everything Is Borrowed pleases with the interesting and very positive thoughts although the artist never makes any categorical statements just presuming the existence of some phenomena. As for the disc's music background, this time The Streets has covered a much broader territory adopting some house beats and his favorite two step elements making the sounding on the whole somewhat more softer and refined. The album opens with the first single and the title track telling that everything in this world is transient and nothing matters but for love, whereas Heaven For The Weather is a ready danceable hit and a great example of the singer's sense of humor. An unusual melody of composition I Love You More (Than You Like Me) is underlined by a jazzy piano, while the house beat of The Way Of The Dodo combined with philosophic lyrics stating that it is people who create all the mishaps make it easy one of the album's highlights. A conversation of a potential suicide and an antique philosopher on On The Edge Of A Cliff is refined by contagious tubes and a light beat whereas on the only slow composition here, The Strongest Person I Know, Skinner demonstrates once again his unique rapping and soft vocals. The album closes with another single The Escapist, an asceticism anthem that has become famous due to a video in which Mike makes a walking trip in France all alone.

A positive philosophic album

Although it does not contain the same frank confession that Skinner's previous albums can boast with, Everything Is Borrowed does disarm with its honesty and self-irony. The Streets does not state anything concrete here, his lyrics does not answer any questions. These are rather separate strokes of his life, thoughts and views that get joined in a one whole picture that never makes it clear what it all is about but still it manages to produce an impression of something very important and valuable, and all that is seen in the light of his endlessly easy attitude to everything happening around. Maybe that is the reason why he calls himself Picasso of geezer garage. Thus, if The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living was quite heavy and dark, Everything Is Borrowed is a positive philosophic album probably signing the beginning of a new chapter in Mike Skinner's life. We will certainly learn what happens to him next from the new creations of this talented artist and for now he has provided us with material for reflection practically in abundance.