Heartbreaker Please

Its a bit of a surprise to realize that it has been 20 years since a fresh-faced, confident, and talented Teddy Thompson released his self-titled debut album when he was just 24 years old. The man on 2020s Heartbreaker Please, Thompsons seventh album, doesnt sound remarkably different; his tenor voice is still clear and strong, he still isnt afraid to plead for love or look inward when it goes wrong, and his melodies are still buoyant, thoughtful contemporary folk with a rootsy accent. But Heartbreaker Please is the work of a more mature and seasoned artist, and these songs, written in the wake of a serious romantic breakup, deal with the deep ache of loneliness from a place of hard-won experience thats neither callow nor flippant. This music is rooted more firmly in R&B and country sounds than his earliest work, walking away from the pop production savvy of 2008s A Piece of What You Need and 2011s Bella. The soul horns on Why Wait, the vintage R&B shuffle of At a Light, and the slow, smoldering groove of Brand New are the reference points of an artist with a sense of history as well as an eye towards the present, and the latter song is telling in its narrative of a man who wants his life to be simple and fun again with the knowledge that isnt likely to happen any time soon. Thompson was a capable performer from the start, and Heartbreaker Please demonstrates hes improved with the passage of time, while his songwriting has also gained a depth that comes from a lived life. No Idea may bear a certain resemblance to All I See from his debut, but theres a deeper and more affecting edge to the newer song that is a superb example of how much Thompson has evolved in the two decades that separate them, and Heartbreaker Please charts that progress, simply and with an admirable clarity. ~ Mark Deming