Back when DIY first heard Lonely Ghosts, Tom Denney was still safely ensconced in Help! She Can’t Swim. Stripped of the others, but gaining about 4 decibels in noise, demo tracks like ’Battleships’ sprinted off into the distance dangerously brandishing the insides of a Nintendo megadrive while still managing to splatter semi shrieked vocals here and there.

So it’s a surprise when a pared down acoustic guitar and a beefed up bass line opens ‘So Young, So Beautiful’ the far more delicate first track off Denney’s debut mini album. Yet, while his former tenacity is lost for a moment it doesn’t take long to get into the scream of things. Shouts pepper even the sweetest lyrics, of which plenty are provided; while on ‘Plough Through’ the solo effort’s ‘synth pop’ credentials are securely in place. While there are one or two dirgey moments, ‘Maybe You Could Save Me’ wallowing bloatedly next to ‘Good Times’s flitting and acerbic rage fests, ‘Don’t Get Lost/Hurt’ never veers into the boggy, self loating depths of how I Was A Cub Scout seemed to at the end of their time together.

Not quite hitting the wide eyed heights of Conor Oberst’s teen-yeared ‘Every Day and Every Night’ in terms of machine + guitar + emotion = ace either, it’s still an album that beats ferociously until the last minute and an all round good effort.

Lonely Ghosts Official Site

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