Wirral native and Cork resident Laurie Shaw’s Weird Weekends is a wonderfully melodic, Britpop-inspired gem. Shaw has been quietly perfecting his craft these past few years, hopping between his parents’ recording studio in Kenmare and attending university in Cork, all the while releasing a staggering – wait for it – 75 albums in various musical genres.

Here, he utilises the Kerry countryside as a backdrop for teenage tales of yearning and missed homework. In addition to focusing on the feeling of being young, dumb and in love, the record is about finding redemptive beauty in the everyday mundanity of life.

There are Alex Turner-style stream-of-consciousness moments and crooner sensibilities on tracks like ‘Shatterproof’ (“You drank your Sauvignon Blanc like some horny single mother”) and ‘Sophistication’ – the latter a disco-tinged tune about a girl trying to capture a boy’s attention amidst her turbulent home life.

Shaw’s ability to flit between up-tempo, dreamy synth-pop (‘Weird Weekends’) and tender acoustic ballads (‘Skipped Period Blues’) is testament to his chameleonic talents.

Indeed, his DIY, autobiographical songwriting is a breath of fresh air in an increasingly phoney and market driven industry.
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Rating: 8/10