Galway’s stable for unsigned talent, Origin Records, involving both the Zhivago Record store and Cuba live venue, follow up the successful release of this year’s To Boldly Go compilation with yet another album. This time, nine unsigned Galway-based acts contribute eighteen original tracks.

This reviewer has an inbuilt aversion towards this manner of industry ‘product’, which can rarely hang together as a bona fide album. Such fears proved to be unfounded in relation to Origin’s roster of talent. Tones and textures vary from David Lyndon’s strong, subdued yet forceful singer/songwriter contributions to Fuzzburger’s quirky, sex-obsessed ‘Rhythm of Love’. Four cuts that really knocked my block off include Fable in Youth’s ‘Ruth, both contributions from Kildare-born duo Tongue and, best of all, my favourite track, Sean Crossan’s ‘Time Out’ which daringly tries to capture the sound, sense and smell of Galway in a similar vein to Van Morrison’s finest compositions about his native Belfast.

With fine material also doing the rounds by the Illdependents and Cane 141 on Galway’s Secret Recordings label, the West is well and truly awake. The rest of us should wake up and smell the coffee.