In his first studio album, Minchin mixes bitter barbs and humour with self-introspection – and surprising vulnerability
In Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, the musical which crossed paths on Broadway with Tim Minchin’s musicals Matilda and Groundhog Day, the central character is driven by a loudly tolling inner bell. Time is always in a hurry, and it must be controlled long enough for him to achieve everything he needs to. Time demands and demands, and time wins, early too, with Hamilton dead before 50. But a mark has been left.
In Minchin’s Apart Together, his first album of non-theatre/comedy show songs, time is the drumbeat as well. But here it’s not a future that’s looming; instead, what drags like dead weight for some of his characters is time spent already, with things never done or not done enough; or time silently judging others for living a merely adequate life.