Merseyside’s former Coral guitarist and founder returns with a peach of an LP – a warm, musical embrace of and melancholy, opulently produced in his Yawn studio in West Kirby with piano, orchestral strings and a touch of brass. With a title translated from Welsh as ‘cheers’ or ‘good health’ the music echoes the scale and romance of 60s Motown, but is particularly reminiscent of the grandeur of Richard Hawley and the intimacy of Elliott Smith. Ryder-Jones has experienced no shortage of family tragedy and mental health struggles, but has channelled this in a moving, powerful album. Standouts include If Tomorrow Starts Without Me, which imagines a situation where he is longer alive, the gentle I Hold Something In My Hand, the dramatic This Can’t Go On, which name checks The Killing Moon by local heroes Echo & The Bunnymen, with the soaring epic scale of a track by Mercury Rev or The Flaming Lips. Another is Today Again, with added children’s choir and that double-edged telling lyric which seems to capture a running theme. “There’s something great about life / There’s something not quite right.” Yet the entire LP is a strong, sensitive triumph, surely his best to date. Out on Domino.
Bill Ryder-Jones and friends
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