''Perspex Island'' is the ninth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by English musician

Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the ...

and his fifth with backing band, The Egyptians, released on

Go! Discs Go! Discs was a London-based record label, launched in 1983 from offices in Wendell Road, Shepherd's Bush, by Andy Macdonald and Lesley Symons. The pair founded the label after Macdonald left his job as press officer at Stiff Records, and Sy ...

in 1991. The group's third under their contract to

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

, it contains eleven Hitchcock originals. It was recorded in Los Angeles in 1991, and features guest appearances by Hitchcock fans

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Stipe was born in Metro Atlanta in January 1960. Due to his father's militar ...

and

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.; he played the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his caree ...

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...

The associated single "So You Think You're in Love" peaked #1 on the

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart in the U.S. The album carries a Hitchcock oil painting on its front cover, depicting the mythological figure

Thoth Thoth (from , borrowed from , , the reflex of " eis like the ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an African sacred ibis, ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine count ...

, which The Egyptians had once used as a group logo.

Reception

''Perspex Island'' received generally positive reviews, though it was not as well-received as many of Hitchcock's other albums. Stewart Mason's review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

stated the "glossy sound doesn't obscure the typically high quality of Hitchcock's songs, and there are times... where the two complement each other perfectly". In a 1991 review for ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'',

Gina Arnold Gina Arnold is an American author, music critic, and academic. A lecturer at Stanford University and an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco, she is the author of four books, including the 33⅓ book on Liz Phair, ''Exile in Guyvil ...

wrote that "Longtime fans... may find they miss Hitchcock's impenetrable surreal lyrics, which always seemed to mask deep and moving insights", though she named "Ultra Unbelievable Love" and "Earthly Paradise" as highlights.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Robyn Hitchcock. #"Oceanside" – 3:48 #"So You Think You're in Love" – 2:34 #"Birds in Perspex" – 3:54 #"Ultra Unbelievable Love" – 3:49 #"Vegetation and Dimes" – 4:58 #"Lysander" – 4:36 #"Child of the Universe" – 4:21 #"She Doesn't Exist" – 4:25 #"Ride" – 5:04 #"If You Go Away" – 4:55 #"Earthly Paradise" – 6:34

References

{{Authority control 1991 albums Robyn Hitchcock albums Albums produced by Paul Fox (record producer) Go! Discs albums Thoth