Paul Weller - True Meanings

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To put it simply, the fourteenth Paul Weller solo album, the twenty sixth studio album of his entire career, is a record unlike any he has ever made before. It is not “a departure”, in the sense that soul baring, melancholic songs have always been an important part of what he does: from ‘English Rose’, to ‘Brand New Start’, right up to ‘The Ballad Of Jimmy McCabe’ from last year’s ‘Jawbone’ soundtrack. But never, ever before has he allowed himself an entire album to exhibit this side of his songwriting, or presented them quite like this. ‘On the 25th May this year, Paul Weller turned 60: a milestone that has unquestionably had an impact on the feel, both lyrically and musically, of ‘True Meanings’. It is, he admits, a reflective album (“I allowed myself, with my impending sixtieth, to be reflective,” he says, “though I ain’t going to stay there too long with that!”). It is littered with lines about life, mortality, religion (‘Books’, on the latter, is a definite highlight), fatherhood, friendship, love and happiness: the sound of a man entirely comfortable and contented with where he is at six decades into his journey. Perhaps most surprisingly of all, especially given how personal and introspective ‘True Meanings’ feels, lyrics for four of the fourteen songs here were written, to Weller’s melodies, by others. Connor O’Brien from Villagers came up with the words to opener ‘The Soul Searchers’, while ‘Bowie’, ‘Wishing Well’ and the closing ‘White Horses’ are all the work, lyrically, of Erland Cooper from Erland & The Carnival. “Even in the writing, I get bored with my own sort of vocabulary after a while, you know?” Weller says of the process. “So I just wanted to give these songs out to some other people that I admire, and that I’ve wanted to work with. And I loved hearing what they came back with.” For now, though, we have ‘True Meanings’: a beautiful, unique Paul Weller album, and a beautiful, unique Paul Weller album that is as good – as great – as any he has ever made.