Malojian - This is Nowhere album review: Clattering echoes of Laurel Canyon

He's no household name, but Stevie Scullion is what you might call a stalwart of the Irish music scene. Lurking in the shadows and turning loose an album every couple of years, the Belfast-based musician's workmanlike approach to music pays dividends on his third album as Malojian.

Now playing as part of a trio, his latest collection is as fine as anything that's come before, with some beautiful songcraft audible in the Laurel Canyon-style folky clatter of This Is Nowhere, the scuffled strut of I'll Be Alright and the winsome woodwind of Lean on Me.

Some of the more sombre, sluggish tracks (You're a Part of Me, Dam Song) are less engaging. Overall, though, Scullion is creeping closer to perfecting the winning formula that could propel him from "nowhere" to "somewhere".

[ malojian.com ]