Peter Doherty: Anywhere in Albion

Felt Better Alive is Peter Doherty’s most confident solo collection yet, sprinkled with radiant playfulness, almost innocence at times, shot through with Peter Doherty’s signature melodic nous, quirky poetic realism and visual story-telling gifts.

The songs began in an idyllic rural setting, the Normandy village where Peter and his family live. Peter enlisted his friend and producer/musician Mike Moore, who’s produced Baxter Dury and plays guitar in Liam Gallagher’s band.

Peter says of the pedal steel driven song Felt Better Alive: ‘It’s quite bouncy, quite country. ‘Dredging the mouth of the Humber’ is a line from Hancock [about coagulated sprinkled sugar in the bottom of a bowl of cornflakes]. The chorus I love, ‘And I’d always planned/To sing in a sweet and soulful way as only cowboys can/But my saddle strap snapped like a dog-chewed tourniquet…’ It’s an accurate description of how I feel about certain times in my life, y’know? Treasures of the Sierra Mardre: you set off on this mission for the gold and you just ended up lost in the mountains, being hunted by bandits.’