Album: Don Scannell, Three Silver Pieces (Don Scannell)

The expatriate Irish songwriter Don Scannell's debut album starts off strongly before tailing off somewhat in the later stages; but there's enough happening to suggest he may yet be able to give up his day-job as an accountant.

Certainly, there can be few in his profession with as self-consciously poetic a turn of phrase to coin lines like "the brightful day, it ebbs away" and "chasing illusions in a violet sky" – but his airy harmonies and sweetly toned arrangements of piano, cello and subdued fingerstyle guitar have the warmth to carry most of them off. Vocally, Scannell reminds me of David McWilliams – on "Intro (Shabby Rocks)", he delivers short phrases like an incantation, while the brief "Evoke the Night" has a gentle, hymnal manner. Elsewhere, the folksy consolations of "Pour Away" have a simpatico temperament akin to "Everybody Hurts".

DOWNLOAD THIS Intro (Shabby Rocks); Mystery; Three Silver Pieces