Track four, Harry Worth drops the tempo and heads off towards Clubland and The Long Honeymoon as the gravel of Costello’s lead vocal contrasts nicely with the oohs and aahs in the background. There’s plenty of space in the backing as well, making the track a pleasant contrast to the denser sound of the opening salvo.
That continues through Drum and Bone which sounds like it could have been an out-take from The Delivery Man with added layers of voices before the tempo drops for Flutter and Wow which, while it might not be your average common or garden ballad, at least lives in the same neighbourhood.
It’s back to almost-metal guitar crunch and keyboard swirls for Stella Hurt, which Costello used as his regular opening number through the May 2008 gigs opening for the reformed Police, then we’re into God’s Comic territory for Mr. Feathers before My Three Sons slips towards nostalgia as Costello finally lets sentiment sneak in.
A co-write with Rosanne Cash, Song For Rose evokes King of America before we’re back into The Delivery Man territory for Pardon Me Madam and Go Away where the Stax/Get Happy feel wraps up proceedings with the sort of ear-worm that listeners could well end up humming for the next couple of hours. Why don’t you come back baby? Why don’t you go away? indeed.
And while there are plenty of elements that evoke his earlier work, Momofuku works as a whole because the speed with which the components were assembled wouldn’t have left much time for critical analysis of what was going down. In fact, if Costello hadn’t been asked to contribute vocals to Jenny Lewis sessions, which included Imposters bassist Davey Faragher, we mightn’t have had an album at all.
Those sessions led to a call to drummer Pete Thomas and keyboardist Steve Nieve. A week in the studio with Jenny Lewis, Johnathan Rice and Tennessee Thomas (the drummer’s daughter) was enough to produce a product that stands with the best of Costello’s considerable catalogue.
Of course it’s highly likely Costello’s writing and performing interests will continue to be as wide-ranging as they have been throughout career that has twisted and turned through so many sectors of the musical landscape.
In the future we can expect more high art excursions into ballet, semi-classical music and jazz but it’s comforting to think that Costello’s got it in him to take a break from more serious projects and put together something that works as well as well as this set of songs does.
If the album isn’t the greatest thing he’s done, it’s a long way from the bottom of Costello’s, or anyone else’s, barrel.