For Duke Special (or Peter Wilson to his friends), vaudeville never left us. In fact, it grew dreadlocks and decamped to Northern Ireland, bucking all trends with saloon-style piano sing-alongs and a cheeky wink and a smile to boot.
As a preview for October's The Deep Forest LP, Portrait undertakes its task with aplomb; the toe-tapping melody and classic instrumentation brought under Wilson's spell with nothing more than a touch of wordplay and an amiable, Damon Gough-esque timbre.
Sure to appeal to old time piano aficionados everywhere - particularly those with a penchant for pre-Reinhold Ben Folds Five - the Dukester beacon in a sea of dirge, and we could all use a little of whatever it is he's on.
share: 
