i've been listening to the new single by disputatious duo david mcalmont & bernard butler, entitled "falling." their return has been greeted with equal parts dread and anticipation by fans and press alike. there is much to be cynical about here, after all: their acrimonious split has been well documented, but there's nothing like mutual commercial failure to bring people together. in some quarters, it's being viewed as a contrived cash-in and, given my own cynicism, i was almost ready to accept that the idea of david mcalmont singing the phonebook may not be as appealing as once thought.

having now listened to the single a number of times now, i'm relieved to say that it's much better than the phonebook set to music, much much better, in fact. it sounds just as you'd hope it would: soaring vocals, guitar heroics, spectorian production. unlike "yes" and "you do," "falling" seems to hark back to the ballads of the 1950s (the chantels' "maybe" comes immediately to mind). wiping that disastrous last solo album from his mind, butler returns to the bombastic arrangements of his debut, the sort that never really worked with his thin voice but fit melodramatic singers like brett anderson and david mcalmont to a tee. as usual, mcalmont is the damsel in distress, begging for someone to take his hand because he's falling, and it's in these roles that he excels.

it's not an unqualified success, however. "falling" is cut from the same cloth as "you do" and "yes," but it doesn't exactly make for an as attractive garment. the earlier singles reached a critical mass, they had what are called 'moments.' "yes" becomes transcendent at 3:05, after the middle 8 and a modulation; "you do" does the same at 2:32 when mcalmont sings, "i need you now and always have." that moment on "falling" should be at 3:07 with the piano glissando, but it just doesn't come together.

paling in comparison to two of the finest singles of the last decade is a small quibble. after all, things could be much worse: suede's "positivity" doesn't live up to even the lowered bar set by head music. how bad do things have to get for brett to try to patch things up with bernie? and, if "falling" is a sign of things to come, why would bernard even want to?