I have written so very many words about Robyn Hitchcock over the years that it seems appropriate to celebrate the grand singer-songwriter’s new track with his own description of it:

The first single from my new LP, The Confuser is called “I Am This Thing”. It came to me in the summer of 2022, a golden age all of its own. I was standing waist-deep in the chilly English sea on Compton Bay, my favourite Isle of Wight beach, and found myself singing it, splashing about in the waves like a 5-year-old. I was that age when I first visited the Island, so perhaps being back in those waters for the first time since the pandemic triggered that song. White clouds drifted above the beach, from which the spirits of holidaymakers past gazed down with their old-fashioned swimming gear and their phantom ice-creams.

The song does indeed have a freewheeling feel. It’s got a swinging groove, an insinuating hook, and lyrics that have a spontaneous, stream-of-consciousness sense about them, albeit coming from the singular consciousness of Mr. Hitchcock (“I grew out of somebody else/ She wore a wedding ring/ And when I decompose/ I will be part of everything”). I’m amazed that he’s still coming up with music this joyful and offbeat so deep into his long career. I’m grateful for it, too.

The Confuser, the new album from Robyn Hitchcock, is scheduled for release in July.