And for all its trad-rockisms, the album’s got a fair bit of personality and presence about it, a rare commodity in these anaemic, academic times.
And for all its trad-rockisms, the album’s got a fair bit of personality and presence about it, a rare commodity in these anaemic, academic times.
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If you like tub thumping chords and big old fashioned choruses, you’ll like this LP. This is Port O’Brien singer Van Pierszalowski’s solo record or new project, (take your pick) and one seemningly concerned with nailing his musical colours to a new mast. Out In the Light is very much in love with making big, emotional statements and in some ways seems to be a cathartic exercise as well as a clarion call.
The LP starts at a tremendous lick; the first four tracks are slick and determined as well as being tremendously accessible. For The One and Back to You are appealingly catchy rockers, whereas O Holy Break of Day is a great statement of intent: (probably one of the best on the record, with its balance between quiet and loud). And on Out in the Light you can hear the lad’s a big Beatles fan… I’ll leave it to the listener which Harrison track on the White Album he’s shaped the chorus around. It’s only around the melancholy Ones You Had Before where you can draw breath before charging off again with powerful tracks like Take Me to the Coast and If I Run.
It all reminds me of the vibe Teenage Fanclub had when they first turned up, gloopy, scruffy, slack-jawed takes on Revolver or Big Star. As I said before it’s a good record, alternating between clear the air rockers and weepies like the marvellous Mickey Mantle. And for all its trad-rockisms, the album’s got a fair bit of personality and presence about it, a rare commodity in these anaemic, academic times.