Dan Michaelson & The Coastguards

Single review

Sheets

added: 25 Feb 2013 // release date: 11 Mar 2013 // label: State 51
reviewer: Paul Holmes

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�Come on round, you know I�ll let you in,� drawls Dan Michaelson - his raw vocal delivery crossing the mid-point between his Northampton origins and his time spent in Texas to record his 2011 solo album, Sudden Fiction.

Michaelson has toured with the likes of Phosphorescent and I Am Kloot, and much like the latter�s John Bramwell, he wears his metaphorical heart on his hypothetically alcohol soaked sleeve, with delicate, subdued results.

His is a gentle yet throaty plea, always one step away from cracking into whisky-induced nothingness, which contrasts beautifully with the beautifully sparse accompaniment by his Bad Seeds esque Coastguards.

Now onto their third full length record, �Blindspot�, the band - which also features Henry Spenner, Laurie Earle, Sanja Mitra and the gloriously named Horse - have shifted a world away from the up-tempo, indie-dirge sound of Michaelson�s previous project, Absentee.

As with Nick Cave�s recent soundtrack work, the sound here is forlorn, the lyrics are heartfelt, and the song builds gently to a crescendo, before quietly receding and returning to its origins, never outstaying its welcome.

Sheets is released on 11th March, with the album Blindspot following on 25th March.

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