This Ross Rooney-produced sophomore album from Kildare native Eoghan Burke – trading as Fia Rua – is a mightily impressive affair. Blessed with a poetic pen and distinctively quavering vocal style, and peddling a rare mix of alt-folk and indie rock, Burke manages to simultaneously sound both contemporary and timeless. The thumping title track, and a few others besides, wouldn’t sound out of place on one of the Rogue’s Gallery albums. He does dark and melancholy, too, as evidenced on the brilliant ‘Winter Sun’. Elsewhere the likes of Jinx Lennon and Welsh songstress Nicola Williams add to an already heady mix of accents and styles. Fia Rua won’t be to everyone’s taste but, even if you don’t like the genre, this is a folking brilliant piece of work.
KEY TRACK: ‘SHAKIER’