Paul Tiernan – The Mystery of Others – Album Review by Killian Laher
Paul Tiernan, formerly of Interference has several solo albums under his belt, his latest, The Mystery of Others is his seventh. Very much an old-fashioned sounding singer-songwriter album, curiously it starts with one of the weaker tracks, A Kind of Boy sounds like a stray ball of fluff Neil Hannon picked off his jacket. Things take a distinct improvement from there. Tiernan’s voice is not far off Damien Rice’s and the songs are well executed, ranging from darkly picked Leonard Cohen-style folk (A Mother’s Sin), through moody soul (Happiness), to downtrodden piano pieces (Hills).
There’s enough variety here to keep the album from getting dull. The Kiss is gorgeous alt-country vaguely reminiscent of a very subdued Crazy Horse, while the fine, insistent jazz-infused strums of Weathervane hark back to classic John Martyn or even Joni Mitchell. The cloying old school sentimentality of Wolves is a little hard to take, but it’s the only real misstep.
A pretty decent collection of songs, it won’t change your world but it will float more boats than sink them.
Track List –
1. A Kind of Boy
2. A Mother’s Sin
3. Happiness
4. Hills
5. In The City of Thieves
6. The Kiss
7. Weathervane
8. Wolves
9. Flies
10. Holes
11. Catherine
A Kind of Boy:
Categories: Album Reviews, Header, Music, New Music
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