Our Krypton Son is Derry man Chris McConaghy, and his solo debut is a far cry from his former band, the psychobilly Red Organ Serpent Sound. McConaghy roped in a band of friends and recorded the album in a roofing factory in his home town. The result sounds oddly like a compilation, such is the wild and sometimes alienating variaty of styles on offer.
McConaghy proves himself an able songwriter: his voice is possessed of a rich timbre and warmth that makes you want to listen to songs like ‘When I First Lay Dreaming’ over and over. Album highlight ‘Gargantuan’ fizzes and fuzzes in all the right places, with the simplest of guitar motifs forming the foundation for a bright ‘n’ breezy four minutes of near perfect off-kilter pop. Less impressive are the folky, pastoral ‘Sunlight In The Ashes’, which degenerates into a dirge long before the end, and the frantic cacophony of ‘I’ll Wind’, frighteningly like how The Divine Comedy might sound if Neil Hannon embraced rockabilly.
Elsewhere, there’s the Hawley-esque melancholy of ‘Catalonian Love Song’, the jangly guitars of ‘Season In Hell’, which sees McConaghy channelling his inner Springsteen, and ‘Plutonium’, the gorgeous three-minute piano ballad which closes the album. In between, there’s the timeless simplicity of ‘Birds On The Skylight’ and the lovely country singalong of ‘This Jealous Heart’. Our Krypton Son certainly has sparks of something great: but he needs to be more focussed to really ignit