The Compleat Unknown is Curtis’s second solo release on the Floating World label. A long time in the making, it is well worth the wait. As with Curtis’s previous album, The Bean King, the songs encompass a wide range of styles and influences, unified by his haunting and distinctive vocals. He even includes an affectionate homage to his adopted hometown, Northampton where Curtis is a regular on the local music scene.
Curtis’s cultural references are far-ranging and varied. The liner notes feature an extract from Goethe’s Faust, as well as the supposed inscription at the entrance to Hell ‘Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here’ in Dante’s Divine Comedy. To complete the picture there is a photo of Es Vedra, mythological home to the Sirens. Together, we are all set for a voyage into The Compleat Unknown.
Tracks
Au 79, Whatever Happened To?, Falling Down, Last Shoe War, Beautiful Losers, Lightning, You Are Soul, Improbably Northampton, Terror Firmer, Don’t Break The Dawn In Two, War; An Elegy, Nene Delta Blues