Paul Weller has taken risks throughout his 35-year career. He broke up the Jam at the height of the band’s popularity and powers. He then started the Style Council with keyboardist Mick Talbot and embraced a diversity of musical styles including soul, funk and even synth-pop, alienating his previous fan base in the process.
After the demise of the Style Council, Weller returned to a more guitar-based sound, channeling influences as diverse as Humble Pie, Tim Buckley and Robert Wyatt. All of his disparate influences came together on his sprawling 2008 double album, 22 Dreams. The music ran the gamut from the collegiate jazz of the Style Council to fragile folk that made up most of Weller’s second solo LP, Wild Wood.
One influence that hasn’t made it onto his albums is dub reggae. Weller has professed that he’s a fan of Bob Marley and on his latest album, Sonik Kicks, he’s channelled that love into the song “Study in Blue.” It travels from its echo-laden melodica opening to the ’60s-sounding duet with his backing singer wife Hannah Andrews, to the extended dub instrumental that closes the track. “Study in Blue” is a sheer sonic pleasure.