Along with the celebrity, drink, class As and soon The Streets itself (he’s said this will be his last album under the moniker), Mike Skinner's upbeat everyman attitude and laddish tendencies seem to have gone too. Together with the album of the same name, ‘Everything is Borrowed’ strikes a more mature and reflective tone. The single philosophises upon life and opportunities lost and found above a slow and simple looped orchestral sample, the only other addition being a soft female-vocal backing Skinner’s during the chorus. However, Skinner's stock in trade of wry social observations are constrained by the subject matter, tackling the bigger questions he comes up short on the inventive insight that marks his past work out, the dry Mockney intonation remains but his spark and wit are in far better form when covering average pub-life.
 
5/10

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