Blasphemy

Through ten beautifully crafted songs, Irish singer-songwriter Alan Doyle explores the subtleties of today's taboos. The song which best captures the album's spirit is Happy Song, a sardonically ironic criticism of a culture obsessed with happiness and positive thinking. From this starting point, time becomes a major theme throughout the record, with songs such as Brother, Time Passes By and The Stall, all dealing with the inevitability and, at times, devastating effects of change. The point however, is not to descend into total pessimism, but to accept and embrace life's reality. In The Road to Reno, a metaphorical trip which represents the journey through life, what's really important is the road itself, and not it's unpleasant end. In regards to sound, the record is mostly acoustic and minimal, but it's also suggestively experimental. As Better World fades out at it's close, an electronic drum, simulating a heartbeat, fades in and hangs in the air for a few moments. In Wooden Frame, the vocals are stripped of any echo and put through a guitar amp to give them the feel of a desolate, barren landscape, the tension is then released with the explosion of a full band. The album's sound is further enhanced by the beautiful vocals of Israeli singer-songwriter Noam Bar Azulay on the duet Your Last Victim.