The breakup album is virtually a cliché. There are reasons why it can be irresistible to artists and listeners alike. It is a common, almost universal, experience. Very few will have been lucky enough to immediately fall into the perfect relationship so the emotions may well be familiar but repetition of themes make it inevitable that they will turn into clichés. Under those circumstances, it is understandable that Cate Le Bon did not set out to catalogue the demise of her long-term relationship. However, emotions can usurp plans and she found herself writing a different album from that she had intended. Le Bon, though, is not a strikingly heart-on-sleeve performer, in part due the chilly Nico-like quality of her voice and lyrics that do not scream a clear, straight-forward meaning. While there is emotion to her deeply textured music, its relatively constant slow-to-mid-paced tempo means it comes across as restrained and controlled. Consequently, ‘Michelangelo Dying’ transcends the conventional pity-fest, offering something far richer.
Musically, it represents a natural continuation of its 2022 predecessor, ‘Pompeii’. The opening track, ‘Jerome’, finds her “eating rocks” and drawing out the word “cry” to render it multisyllabic. The bass playing has a sub-aquatic squelch reminiscent of the style Mick Karn brought to Japan and Euan Hinshelwood’s saxophone tends towards a continual emotive note. A lyric in ‘Love Unrehearsed’ gives the album its title, a theme developed with references to “a marble face” and the question, “does she sleep like a stone?” There are hints of the emotional chaos of post-relationship trauma with conflicting lines, “stay forever / but you are so cruel / I get swept away / in your love / unrehearsed.” Hinshelwood’s playing at the song’s conclusion is especially lyrical and gives it a lift.
‘Mother of Riches’ provides ‘Michelangelo Dying’ with its first instantly memorable melody. The interplay between keys, guitar and sax weaves well-layered patterns while the drums and percussion of Dylan Hadley and Valentina Magaletti stand out as it sends the song in some unexpected rhythmic directions. Weighing in at nearly six-minutes long, the languorous ‘Is It Worth It (Happy Birthday)’ continues in a deeply melodic vein, its slow-motion sliding style akin to floating through treacle. Trying to celebrate while in torment, Le Bon sings “open up in hell / and deck the halls / it’s a holiday / it’s a birthday” before going on to confess, “I make a joke of love.” Tangentially, she strikes upon other casualties, innocent bystanders of a relationship ending, “I thought about your mother / I hope she knew / I loved her.”
The complex rhythms that underpin ‘Pieces Of My Heart’ echo the discombobulation that she feels from the opening line, “this is how we fall apart” onwards. While it may only be one letter away from the song made famous by the Janis Joplin-fronted Big Brother and the Holding Company, rather than that song’s shriek of rage it captures a gamut of emotions from muddle, through denial and resignation. That understatement is maintained on the spacious ‘About Time’ with her admitting, “I get a little upset / I just can’t take it yet” before ending on the instruction, “Collect yourself / Rigid / Collapse.”
‘Heaven Is No Feeling’ proves itself one of the record’s most memorable songs. Le Bon’s vocals veer from coolly observational (“I see you watch me watch you watch me move away”) to rising and swooping as the sax captures the heated intensity of the scene (“you smoke our love / like you’ve never known violence.”) With its jagged, repetitive rhythms, ‘Body Is A River’ breaks up the mood before she is joined by John Cale on the chorus of the crawling ‘Ride’. There is resignation as she sings, “it’s alright / it’s just feelings going away” while later she sounds enervated claiming, “never felt so alive.” The song finishes with some rare vocal histrionics which contrasts effectively with Cale’s deadpan delivery. ‘Michelangelo Dying’ ends with ‘I Know What’s Nice’ where the music almost collapses in on itself under the weight of emotions. At the song’s conclusion, Le Bon acknowledges, “I’m leaving someone I love / I can’t breathe for someone I love” before repeating “I can’t break down” as an unconvincing mantra to herself.
For all its enigmatic utterances and sometimes chilly delivery, ‘Michelangelo Dying’ contains very raw emotion. However, the quality of the musical layering and its unexpected shifts prevent it from descending into a wallow in misery. Le Bon sculps great beauty from its jumble of feelings and it confirms her reputation as one of music’s most distinctive artists.
Cate Le Bon: Michelangelo Dying – Out 26 September 2025 (Rough Trade)
Le Bon – Heaven Is No Feeling (Official Music Video)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
