Dan Michaelson – First Light – Album Review by Killian Laher

Dan Michaelson, after a series of albums recorded with The Coastguards, releases his first album as plain old Dan Michaelson in six years.  It’s an album of slow, wintry singer-songwriter fare, with strings accompanying Michaelson’s ‘just out of bed’ voice.  He sounds like the aftermath of a particularly heavy night on opening track Careless, as a guitar is picked quietly behind the string section, while you can almost feel the frost off the chilly keyboards that open Sand.  Michaelson has a gift for melody with Stone almost sounding like some kind of standard, as he sings the simple refrain “we are more than words carved in stone”.  A depressed standard, but still a standard.

At times his throaty, exhausted vocals can be tough to get through (especially the Tom Waits-like Someone Else’s Dream) but if you stick with this, it’s an enjoyable and seasonal collection.

Track List –

1. Careless
2. Sand
3. Someone Else’s Dream
4. Stone
5. Careless Reprise
6. Old Kisses
7. But I’ll Never Be Lost
8. First Light
9. Don’t Let It Pass

Careless