Peter Perrett – ‘Art Is A Disease’ (from ‘The Cleansing’ LP)

Three albums into the 21st Century’s most unlikely ‘comeback’ from Cult (Punk) Rock obscurity and Peter Perrett again makes what might be the most barren, beaten yet surprisingly uplifting record of the year. ‘The Cleansing’ is a wilful mess of contradictions, at once full of sneering barbs at Modern Life and profound declarations of Love In Spite Of It All. One gets the feeling that Perrett has lived enough and seen so much that he understands it is not necessary to agree in order to empathise; that the emotions filtering through all are universal even if our triggers are individual. Certainly one does not need to get what he sings about here in order to feel what he is singing about.