Waxing Gibbous

Waxing Gibbous is the fifth solo album from Falkirk's Malcolm Middleton, and early consensus says it's his best yet. Following last year's low-key Sleight Of Heart, this is the album Middleton was making while he took that diversion, composed from years' worth of scribbles in notebooks, which were "chiselled and connived into being songs."

Though self-produced, the album was recorded with the help of a few friends: it features backing vocals from King Creosote and The Pictish Trail, the piano skills of Barry from Mogwai and the honeyed vocals of Jenny Reeve. And there are surprises in store. He raps! He speaks! He plays slap bass! He sings about socks! Heck, the brilliant "Zero" even gets close to full-blown '80s hip-hop.

A unique voice among the dirge of singer-songwriters, Middleton's work balances a fragile mix of self-doubt, humor and wry observations on the human condition. Few current singer songwriters can claim to be as prolific - or focused - as Middleton in the past five years, averaging a release a year.

Prone to self-deprecation (listen to any given lyric for proof), Malcolm issued a statement saying Waxing Gibbous would likely be his last solo album for a while. Needless to say, reports of his creative death have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, it's quite the opposite.