It’s been five years since Fionn Regan released his Mercury-nominated debut, The End Of History, and, despite its title, quite a lot has happened since. That first album, released on British indie label Bella Union, garnered much critical acclaim, with the 25-year-old Dubliner compared to everyone from Leonard Cohen and Bert Jansch to Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. Riding high on the wave of that success, Regan departed the Bella Union fold and signed with Nashville-based Lost Highway Records (where his label-mates included Ryan Adams and Moz).
Unfortunately, that deal didn’t work out. Having toured History heavily, a somewhat shell-shocked Regan went into studio with heavyweight producer Ethan Jones (whose credits include Kings Of Leon, Emmylou Harris and Rufus Wainwright). The resulting album obviously wasn’t what Lost Highway had been hoping for. Regan left the label, and the record was never released.
Returning home to Ireland, the disillusioned singer set up a small studio in an old biscuit factory and recorded a new album, The Shadow Of An Empire (released on Heavenly Records early last year; he’d waited until it was fully complete before shopping around labels). Undoubtedly reflecting his feelings post-the Lost Highway debacle, the rough-hewn album was the polar opposite of his debut. The Dylan influence was almost overwhelmingly obvious, but it was largely raw, electric and angry rather than winsome, humorous and folky. Some fans cried “Judas!”, but it was well-received critically, and landed him a deal with a major label.
Regan hasn’t wasted much time coming up with his third release. Interestingly, much of the beautifully-titled 100 Acres Of Sycamore was written in the home of actress Anna Friel. Following the Empire tour, he took a break in Spain where he bumped into the former Brookside star in Valencia. Having bonded over a shared love of Robert Graves’ book The White Goddess (about the psychological and mythological sources of poetry), Friel invited the Dubliner to stay in her holiday home in the Majorcan village of Deia.
“Being in Deia was like waking up inside the walls of a dream, as a place it had a profound effect on me,” Regan has said of his time there. “The silver deposits in the mountains give them a luminous glow in the moonlight. I stayed up for days on end. I went to the edge in my head to a certain extent, and I documented it. These songs are essentially the wings which stopped me from falling to the rocks at that time.”
It’s come as no surprise, then, that this album is a far less angry affair than its predecessor. Recorded live (in a barn, apparently) in just seven days, it’s a return to the folkish form displayed on his debut, though a lot more heartfelt than humorous.
Perhaps his sophomore release was just a phase. The angry Dylan – and Neil Young, come to think – squall seems to have passed. This is a far more gentle record. It opens with the string-drenched title track, which is reminiscent of Cohen’s ‘The Partisan’: “We’ll go knuckle to knuckle/And buckle against buckle/Your nostrils will flare as you push out the air/Rise up, brother.” This is followed by the Drake-ish ‘Sow Mare Bitch Vixen’ (“I’ve always had a thing for dangerous women”). On third track ‘The Horses Are Asleep’, he confesses, “I’m a man with a child’s heart.”
Acoustic and orchestral, the mood throughout is sombre but hopeful, melancholic but magical. It’s rarely despairing – though on the mournfully acoustic ‘Dogwood Blossom’, he sings, “So you contemplate the river bed/Turn off the dark thoughts in your head.” Album closer ‘Golden Light’ is an almost Buddhist chant, and would be a good theme song for a Majorcan tourism advertisement.
There’s a central concept in here somewhere, though not an immediately obvious one. This is a love story told over 12 songs and 47 minutes. As with all love stories, though, the path never runs smooth – “Things that fall together just as easily break.”
“I love you and I always will,” Regan croons on the beautiful ‘For A Nightingale’ midway through. Who’s the nightingale? That’s his own personal business, but this beautifully understated album will undoubtedly put a smile on her face. As it will yours.
If you liked his debut, you’ll absolutely adore this. It has heart. It is art. Hansard would definitely approve.