Mishka Shubaly

There is a long and complex back story to the making of this album and indeed to Shubaly’s life.
He is a real polymath – songwriter, singer, bestselling writer, storyteller and self-proclaimed smartass – and has played alongside many major US acts such as The Strokes & The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
He has been living very much on the edge of ‘normal’ society for years and in fact this album was written and recorded during a period of crashing on couches, sleeping cars in and cheap motel rooms following a breakup.

All of which flavours this dark and dystopian recording.

If he didn’t have a huge talent to back him up, this album could just be a dull and depressing dirge but he rather paints the picture of depression but tinged with a combination of defiance, arrogance and hope.
It is actually a superb listen.

His voice is hard and edgy, his lyrics uncompromising but there is a real taste of humour that rolls through the album.

From the opening line of ‘Forget Me’ you get the images of a man who doesn’t want sugar love, who relishes the scars that life gives him and seeks out damaging relationships. The album tells tales of life after the break-up, after the drinking and after the addiction – they aren’t tales of a recovering addict but more the tales of someone who is searching for the next bruising encounter.

All the songs, bar one, were written by Shubaly but the cover is an awesome version of Little Feat’s ‘Willin’ that gives the song a whole new slant and edge.

The music is here to support his lyrics and with the likes of The Pogues Cait O’Riordan and Entourage’s Adam Grenier the playing is superb.

All told this is a magnificent album that left me yearning for more but equally shying away from cuing it up yet again for fear of losing the freshness.