Wax & Seal

Sure Tadhg Cooke writes his own songs and, yes, he does sing. But for the most part, his highly assured debut album Wax & Seal sounds as far removed from the beardy brigade of po-faced strummers as Pablo Aimar's deft touches are from the journeymen footballers of, say, West Brom. Thankfully, it's also a refreshingly cliche-free zone.
Take album standout 'I Know You Hate Me', a post break-up song par excellence, where far from lamenting the loss of his one true love, our hero is rubbing her nose in the fact that he's moved on, with a chorus that most would-be troubadors would trade their broken hearts for: 'I got a new love breaking me in/ Helps me forget about about way I've been'. The fact that his revenge is served up with such lightness of touch only makes it stronger.
Recent single 'George's Street Arcade' is a sublime, multi-layered dreamy affair about bumping into a one-night-stand in Dublin city centre, and the ensuing rush of sweaty memories that 'flood in with a wash of sin'. 'Monochrome', another highlight, has a relentless rhythm and infectious vocal which chug their way into your cranium with ease, before taking up semi-permanent residence.
The title track could either be another admonition of an ex-lover or a fairly damning indictment of music journalism as a profession, with Cooke explaining how he neither seeks nor needs anybody's approval for anything he does. More power to him.
Ironically, the album's opener and closing track, 'Roadmap' and 'Foolish Part', are disappointing, staying in the semi-jazz mid-paced middle-ground, and never breaking cover to forge into more interesting musical territory. Unlike the surreal, crank-and-bluster of the Tom Waits-ian 'Ivory Heart' or the clever wordiness of 'Sparks', where Tadhg tries to convince a would-be paramour that she's only staying with her current boyfriend out of habit. Unlike many songwriters, Cooke can do happy as well as melancholy: the joyous 'Live What You Feel' wangles free from the stranglehold of earnestness to soar into seriously celebratory airspace.
Wax & Seal is a confident, impressive debut that's best summed up by Cooke himself, on the gorgeous 'Like A Stone': 'I don't believe your stories/ I can't believe your truths/ But you're sweetly infectious/ And it's hard to stay aloof'.