Divine Intervention

Having conceded that “addiction took years off me” and spent much of the late 20th century in a personal and artistic limbo, Kevin Rowland is now making up for lost time with a revitalised Dexys. As they prepare to release their new album, The Feminine Divine, this soon-to-be-septuagenarian is keen to express an older, wiser worldview and put the finishing touches to a back catalogue he can be proud of. “We haven’t done that much, really,” he tells Rob Hughes.

You really can’t miss Kevin Rowland. Strolling towards our allotted rendezvous down Bethnal Green Road, the dean of Dexys cuts a dash in sailor-stripe top, blue turned-up jeans, cool white trainers and red beret. He looks fabulous, though maybe less flamboyant than he does in the video for I’m Going To Get Free, the lead-off single for Dexys’ new album, The Feminine Divine.

Filmed on this very same thoroughfare, I’m Going To Get Free finds Rowland sashaying down the street in wide-legged crimson suit and fedora, like some impossibly dandified 1920s gangster. It’s small wonder that he managed it at all, given last year’s motorbike accident that left him in traction and led to the cancellation of a Dexys tour. He’s still getting used to walking properly again, he says. As we escape the late morning mizzle and repair to a chic coffee shop, Rowland orders a herbal tea and settles in to discuss The Feminine Divine.

It’s a remarkable work. And in true Dexys tradition, it’s evolved in its own time. This is only the sixth studio album of the band’s career, and the first since 2016’s all-covers effort, Let The Record Show: Dexys Do Irish And Country Soul. As RC discovers, Rowland has been through an intense period of self-reflection during the interim, feeding directly into the themes of The Feminine Divine. The album traces a narrative that mirrors Rowland’s inner journey, from outdated notions of masculinity to revelatory shifts in attitude towards women and his own place in the world.