Impressive debut album from Kildare band Valentine Black. For a bit of PR gold this album is out on February 14th and would actually make a decent Valentines gift!
Valentine Black's album 'Desire Lines' is like a homage to the 70s folk rock of Dylan, Bowie and Elton. However the one artist who comes to mind for comparison purposes while listening to the album is Billy Joel. The key thing with 'Desire Lines' is that while this isn't original music it's still a decent album filled with catchy songs, good vocals and fine lyrics.
Key tracks for me are 'A Town at the End of the World', the album opener 'The State We're In' and the wonderful album closer 'Love Oceans'. There's a number of love songs on the album which fits the whole 'Valentine's Day' launch.
Lyrically the best song is the single from last year 'Take Me to Your Leader' which is a protest song against governments. The worst song lyrically is the mildly cringing 'More Than New York' but it's still not a terrible song. I fact there's no song that demands a quick skip to the next track.
If you're a fan of good time folk rock with a tendency for the odd love song then this is up your street. It's an honest album of decent tunes that has me in complimentary mode yet it's not an album to get me excited!
Valentine Black - Desire Lines [9 out of 12]
Buy the album: http://valentineblack.bandcamp.com/album/desire-lines
Album Launch in Whelans on Feb 10th:
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