Home. What does the word mean to you? Warmth, security, comfort, God-awful  Michael Buble Dirges? Whatever mental image it conjures up it’s an interesting title for an album that has its origins in transition. For Jo Carcone the lead singer/songwriter of the band, home is Dublin but the Parisian born frontman has drawn on his French heritage and lent a distinctly Gallic flavour to this record with French musician/producer Alain Man on production duties. Has the Franco-Irish alliance yielded results?  Thankfully yes.

‘Home’ is The New Transmission’s follow up to their well received 2007 debut ‘By Your Side’. In five years a lot can change for a band. Carcone reckons they’ve developed a greater maturity and as he puts it this is not an ‘album that could have been made two years ago’ It’s a deeply personal record that reals with raw feelings & bruised emotions.

Don’t despair though, this isn’t a morbid sounding Morrissey-fest. It’s quite the opposite actually. There’s a subdued, laid back feel to the songs that make it a real pleasurable listen. Carcone half delivers his lines in a relaxed drawl that just flows perfectly on tracks like ‘Dream it’. Other highlights include the Walls-esque ‘Talk’, a simple enough yet pleasant reflection on love. ‘Hotel Room’ deals with not being afraid and is delivered in the same languid style before building into a crescendo of sound.  It’s a low tempo yet polished sounding record, the decision to have Man produce has delivered.

Overall it’s a decidedly pleasant album that shows a songwriter who is confident in his craft and direction of his sound. It’s not anything ground-breaking but there are enough positives here to make ‘Home’ worth a listen.