Liam McKahey and The Bodies -‘Lonely Road’ (Series 8 )

Liam McKahey first came to the attention of the world as the frontman of Cousteau. Deservedly so. The band were storming live (I still wear the T-shirt bought the second time I saw them, at the Cambridge Boat Race pub, in about November 2000, I think) and pretty hot on record, too. Their best known song was ‘the Last good Day Of The Year’ although for me it’s ‘She Don’t Hear Your Prayer’ which blew me away when they played it at Glastonbury and in my mind’s eye, I bought it on my way home when I stopped off in Oxford.

Anyway, fast-forward nine years, and the Cork-born, longtime London resident Mr. McKahey has upped sticks and moved to Canberra, Australia. Before he left, he and a group of friends recorded this album. According to his myspace page, they recorded the eleven tracks that make up the album in just four days. Now that’s just showing off! But it’s paid off…and how.

McKahey has a genuinely stunning voice, that has drawn deserving comparisons with the likes of Scott Walker (think Scott 1-4, rather than The Drift ), Tindersticks’ Stuart Staples and Nick Cave (think Let Love In onwards). Ian McCulloch of the Bunnymen would kill for a voice as good as this, whatever he and his ego might claim. The songs are ideally suited to this voice, and although the opening track, the title track, is gentler than much of the rest of this album, it’s a wonderfully complete album. The trumpet of John Hutchinson and Joe Peet’s violin mean that the album can draw comparison with the likes of Tom Waits, Calexico and the aforementioned Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. In fact, from the second track in, it’s almost as if the album could serve as the soundtrack for a revisit to the country explored in cave’s novel And The Ass Saw the Angel. I’ve been struggling to pick highlights, because the album is so strong, but ‘Lovers & Fools’ ‘Inscription’ and ‘Unheeded Tidings’ are particularly special. Other singer-songwriters are just not in his league.

Please, don’t let this be just another review you read and forget about. Make a note of it, listen to the myspace page and go and buy it.

****1/2

Lonely Road is released on April 20.

Liam McKahey’s myspace. Listen to the tracks and then go and buy the album.