This is the debut album by the Limerick-based former Nomos frontman, featuring 11 original songs and guest appearances from Damien Dempsey and Gemma Hayes. Thankfully, the arrangements and the production take the album beyond the clichéd guitar-based simplicity of the genre. One can’t avoid hearing echoes of Paul Simon’s delicate craftwork, melodic phrasing and precise vocalising in such songs as the reflective ‘The Leaves’, the pensive ‘Rusty Nails’ and the sublime ‘Then I’ll Go To Sleep’. That latter track and ‘Blue’ feature in the upcoming film Speed Dating. ‘Cutting Down Laws’ turns up the heat and should warm the hearts of radio programmers everywhere, not least on account of the presence of Dempsey. ‘Gone’ is rivetingly hypnotic, Dave Odlum’s atmospheric production taking it to strange, inviting places, while ‘Ancient Breathing’ has a stirring martial feel (think ‘50 Ways To Leave Your Lover’), with classy keyboards and lyrics that evoke the spiritual in lines like “Walk on down that sacred shore and feel that ancient breathing wrap around your soul”.
Coughlan avoids the worn-out formula of a half-dozen chords and a world-weary voice, instead magicking Blood In Vain into a more sophisticated and adventurous approach to the musicianly songwriter’s vocation.