Daniel Jones

Forever, In DisguiseSelf-released **

Describing your music as a hybrid of The Jesus and Mary Chain and Neil Young is a bold declaration. In the case of singer-songwriter Daniel Jones, it’s also a deliberately ambiguous one.

The Corkonian’s debut album was recorded at vastly different periods of time and spliced together afterwards.The adequate first half indulges Jones’s indie aspirations, with songs such as Bouquet and Rip It Up shrouded in shoegaze haze. However, the suspicion that an effects pedal is concealing some very ordinary songs is confirmed by the subsequent overwrought acoustic ballads, which culminates in peculiarly feeble closer Taunting the Tide.

Committing to one style instead of indelicately fusing two very different genres might have made a more cohesive, less jarring and generally stronger statement.

[ danieljones.bandcamp.com ]

Download:Bouquet