Paul Heaton - Jenius - white vinyl 2LP

Jenius by Paul Heaton on white double vinyl LP, from Mint and Sealed. 

Ask Paul Heaton how many songs he’s written and he’ll tell you he’s not really sure. Perhaps that’s unsurprising: this summer it’s 40 years since The Housemartins released their debut album, Hull: 0 London: 4, peaking at number 3 in Britain. Subsequently, he’s released, in various configurations – with The Housemartins and The Beautiful South, solo and with Jacqui Abbot, not to mention as Biscuit Boy –another 21 studio albums, plenty going gold, some multi-platinum, as they’ve risen to the charts’ highest reaches. For each, moreover, he’ll have written many many more songs than he’ll ever include.

Now, less than two years since The Mighty Several – itself his sixth album to go Top 5 in a dozen years – this prolific, poetic observer of human nature is back with another fifteen gems. Silly or serious, poignant or pointed, therein lies Paul Heaton’s Jenius.