Elvis Costello – Trust Review

Two compilation albums and the frenetic overflow of Get Happy!! is not enough for Elvis Costello. His early years as an artist are littered with release after release, a constant push for either a new sound or a reminder of the old one. It hadn’t been all that long since My Aim is True released, and yet The Attractions’ frontman kept on creating. How lucky we are, in hindsight, that he continued despite the poor performance of Trust. An ambitious album, much like the preceding releases, but a chance for Costello to make that overlap of lyrical intent and instrumental growth that much clearer. He succeeds with Trust, a release that is overshadowed by the two albums he hopes to build from, the aforementioned Get Happy!! and its frenetic style, as well as the political gasp and all-time great work found on Armed Forces. Tough work to follow both of those up, but Trust is a worthy continuation of Costello’s outstanding sound.  

Some of the very best Costello tracks can be found here. Opener Clubland still features in his setlist, and rightly so. It’s a song that considers the whirlwind of touring, the breakdown of his marriage at the time, and it does that through more than just some clean-cut lyrics. Instrumentally, it’s a sincere and challenging change from Costello who adapts well to the pop rock and new wave blur. Clubland, like Watching the Detectives from earlier in his career, has a hopefulness at its core, but the suffocating seediness is what prevails. Consider the personal turmoil and the later reveal that Costello had been under the influence for many of the performances within, and Trust is so thoroughly tied to its heartbreak. Lover’s Walk makes that clear enough, an overpowering drum addition drowning out what Costello believes love is. It’s a neat piece early in the album, and that sharpness never leaves Trust, even if it’s “easily the most drug-influenced record” of his career.  

Trust is alarmingly critical of Costello at times. You’ll Never Be a Man is a real self-putdown, but he carries it with a new focus on piano and percussion, the guitar work almost entirely absent here. Brilliant that change-up may be, it’s made more to highlight the brutal reflection that comes through on songs like Strict Time more than the promised instrumental revolution Costello wanted after his previous two studio albums. What Costello maintains across Trust is a heightened standard to his work. Even the album filler bits are impressive, and that proves crucial for more impressive, standout songs like New Lace Sleeves. They’re built on suggestiveness, on unsaid compliments that Costello is only just realising he should’ve dished out rather than kept to himself. It’s an album of realisations and that punk spirit hasn’t quite left Costello yet.  

You can hear it burn through From a Whisper to A Scream, for instance. Frankly beautiful work on Shot With His Own Gun highlights those double entendres which Costello uses to soften the blow of what is a gut-punching collection of songs. He writes of his hardships with such a harsh clarity. Lighter tones are struck with Fish ‘n’ Chip Paper but then that shift occurs once more, the hiding and sharing prods found in the lyrics, backed nicely by some strong piano work from Steve Nieve, is more of that crushing feeling of hurt. Big Sister’s Clothes closes out the album with that same feeling, some tangled and brutal instrumental work to back this paranoid feeling, this brace for a complete collapse. Trust does just that, and it remains a mesmerising achievement from Costello, so soon after Armed Forces, arguably his best album.