Ireland's Paul McCann releases his second album and I'm amazed that one of the big labels hasn't picked up on this. It certainly ticks all the boxes and really deserves the promotion push that one of those labels could give it.
Guest appearances from IDHAS favourites, Jason Falkner, Roger Joseph Manning and Charlotte Hatherley only adds to the appeal here. Alter Ego is a Pop Rock album that you sit back and admire. The material gets the arrangements and production that it fully deserved.
We were bowled over by the lead single, Divide And Conquer and still are. A magnificent song with a killer riff that surprisingly turns into a Barry Gibb like section before rocking to a close. It is an album Tour De Force.
But that song didn't hint at the variety across these 12 songs. The gentler riff and wonderful Brass of World Keeps Turning with its mix of 70s Pop Rock and Modern Prog. The jauntiness pf The Voice Of Reason and the moody ethereal Out Of The Blue.
Then there is the Folk balladeering of Red River Run with another splendid arrangement and Something Is Changed all 60s Pastoral Psych Pop which races along. Weight Of The Bow closes the album bordering on Americana but with a vocal and general arrangement that takes the song to a different level.
McCann is at ease with the slow and the fast, the gentle and the blasting. He is a multi instrumentalist, but some of the Guitar work is absolutely top notch. Alter Ego isn't really meant to get you out of the seat, it is an album to admire and let it wash over you. But then there's Divide And Conquer!
You can listen to and buy the album here.
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