When you rhyme words like “bemoan” with “comfort zone”, and phrases like “peaceful as can be” with “amniotic memory”, for the most part you’re setting yourself up for a fall. When someone hears that, they’ll mostly start tagging you as a bearded, stout swilling, jumper wearing, hippy.  And when it comes to Comfort Zone, the first track on The David Nelligan Thing’s ‘Dark Matters’, you’d probably be right.

So, you’ve made that assumption and are slowly finding the next CD, when on comes Every Day We Wake Up, and – POW! – you’ve taken the thirty-year gap between ‘Blonde on Blonde’ and ‘Time Out of Mind’. Gone are the nattering and jangling of a one-man-band and in are the hip, jazzy beats, the synths, and the pianos.  Not that that’s much better.

For the most part the album sounds a bit like that teenager who’s learning how to sing on Grafton Street* on a Saturday afternoon while all his friends stand around him drinking cans of Monster. Except now the teenager has grown up, discovered Garageband, and the wonders of his own bedroom.

Of course, it’s not all that bad. The reality is that David Nelligan has been constantly putting out music for the last few years and the alt-folk/electronica genre in which he finds himself now is a step on that journey – and a worthwhile one.  His forthcoming attitude on social media also only serves to endear you all the more.  If you can get over the initial hump, ‘Dark Matters’ makes for a very pleasant listen – the catchy melodies are packed in and Nelligan is clearly a talented man. What’s more, you’re safe in the knowledge that the band playing in your ears are proper artists – they’ve been at it long enough.

Try David Nelligan right now on Bandcamp.

*David is from Cork actually, so insert Patrick Street reference here.