Dying Embers: At War with the Eskimos

The debut album by Dara Ryder (with a little help from some musically inclined friends) is a little hard to figure out. Are the Dublin musician's aspirations country-based? Songs such as the rollicking The Well and the banjo-augmented ICU Song would suggest so, but rich swells of orchestration lie amidst the flurry of dobro and lap steel guitar on We Wait in Vain . The rolling drums of Cold Heart give it a Phil Spector-esque tint, while the organ and electric guitar of The Hollowness scream 1950s jukebox favourite. This multiple-personality batch of ingredients is off-putting on occasion, but Ryder will no doubt learn to distil his myriad ambitions as he progresses. Despite its muddled tone, this album is not a bad start at all.

Download: Cold Heart, Jody Rolled Bones