The Streets

Everything Is Borrowed (Vice)

Rather than focusing on the perils of stardom littering 2006’s The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, Mike Skinner’s fourth Streets release finds him “providing for my wife is the vibe I’m on in life.” Such good will isn’t all that separates Everything Is Borrowed from its sad-sap predecessor. Where Hardest banged garage grime, Borrowed pulls strings “On the Flip of a Coin” and hops up the disco-funk for abstinence anthem “Never Give In.” Yes, woe is still the Brit; Skinner considers the apocalypse (“The Way of the Dodo”) and plays the hopeless romantic (“I Love You More [Thank You Like Me]”), but Everything‘s title track – preaching, “I came into this world with nothing, and I’ll leave with nothing but love” – suggests Skinner has come to terms with this crazy little thing called love.

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This article appears in October 24 • 2008.

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