Bill Ryder-Jones on The Moon

This is an album that came out only last week, but you may have noticed, as it has got 4-5 star reviews in the likes of GIITTV and the NME and rightly so. A track from his last album was a highlight of A Best of 13 on The Moon, but the album did not get its own post as it took me a while to appreciate fully. It did get a mention in The Coral 2013 on The Moon, although tracks from his album were not included because he was no longer a member and because sonically it was quite different.

The new LP is more different again; his songwriting does remind me of the more intimate and direct songs of another very talented chap from Merseyside - Martin Carr of The Boo Radleys. Both are brilliant guitarists who don't write particularly guitar-centric songs and both were initially not singers, but have managed to grow into the role.

The sound is less folky than his last one and more rock n roll with some great Pixies like guitar bursts. The songs are full of great hooks but they are not often repeated or particularly highlighted, and so it takes a couple of listens to discover many of them. Daniel is one of many highlights and also spine-tinglingly moving, as it about the loss of his brother at a young age and his, and his parents, difficulties in coping with such a tragic loss. Satellites is rather like a non-dubby Lazarus, with a similar sort of sentiment - "Something somewhere, must be happening."