Bryan Ferry and Amelia Barrett - Loose Talk

by Nick Dent-Robinson

published: 17 / 4 / 2025

Bryan Ferry and Amelia Barrett - Loose Talk

Label: Dene Jesmond
Format: CD

Intriguing new album from Bryan Ferry which finds him collaborating with performance artist, writer and painter Amelia Barrett

Review

Now in his eightieth year, Bryan Ferry's career has taken a surprising turn as, for the first time, he has been creating music for another writer's words. On the new album ‘Loose Talk’, performance artist, writer and painter Amelia Barratt delivers her slightly unsettling vignettes in a cool, detached, cut-glass accent while the Roxy Music singer fleshes out her spoken narratives by cleverly reworking old demo records. The sound is instantly recognisable as Ferry with hints of ‘Bitter-Sweet’ from 1974 and 1982's ‘Avalon’. Roxy Music's drummer Paul Thomson also makes a strong contribution on percussion. However, this is an album with sounds and shapes plus spoken words that is unlike any previous Bryan Ferry release. There are eleven texts, composed by Amelia Barratt, which, as she has said, “create fascinating micro-fictions that are both fragmentary and yet self-contained. As the album progresses, two monologues become a duet”. Bryan Ferry has commented, “The whole experience of making ‘Loose Ends’ had an interesting newness about it. It has opened a whole new chapter in my work. Amelia's work has a really strong mood and I was very conscious of not getting in the way of her words. I hope that, together, we have created something neither of us could do on our own.” Ferry first met Amelia Barratt at an exhibition opening. Both share an art school background but, as Ferry points out, it is the differences between them that animate ‘Loose Talk’ and create unmapped territory. - It is certainly an intriguing album! “Loose Talk” is widely available digitally and on CD, black vinyl, green vinyl and clear vinyl. It can also be heard on Spotiify.