Niall Moran may have only been active on the London music scene for three years or so, but self-produced debut draws on a wealth of experience of life, with reflections n his circumstances and events of the last 5 to 10 years. Hailing from Co. Mayo in the west of Ireland, he’s adopted London as his home, and while his influences are predominantly America by nature, his roots still inform his style and, indeed, the scenes of some of his songs. There’s an easygoing feel to both the songwriting and the delivery, meaning that even the more reflective and downbeat songs have an airy accessibility about them.
Lyrically, Moran’s approach is spare, capturing images and essences of sentiment in just a few words. The arrangements are simple and uncluttered, centred primarily around acoustic guitar, but augmented by basic percussion and other incidentals: ‘I Won’t Need This’ incudes a stream of sampled dialogue that runs throughout.
‘Isla Bloom’ goes full country waltz, with banjo and fiddle, and elsewhere, ‘Heart Attack Song’ presents a scratchy, lo-fi strum that more 90s US indie (it’s not quite Silver Jews, but the way the sound wavers in and out isn’t far off) than anything else.
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It’s Moran’s ability to draw on a range of sources while maintaining both a keen individual character and sense of artistic cohesion that makes ‘All City Birds Hate The Noise’ a strong and satisfying album.
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