Martin Rossiter grew up in South Wales with early musical inspirations being the hymns of Charles Wesley and pop diva Shirley Bassey.
He is best known as the one time lead singer of the popular Indie band Gene and his debut solo release comes after an eight year sabbatical from the music industry.
The arrangements to the ten tunes are sparse, mostly consisting of Rossiter's delicate vocals with his own piano accompaniment. At first it seems a lightweight collection but hidden beneath the deceptively melodic surface are songs that are dark and even at times brutal.
Reading between the lines, you can only conclude that the break up of the band coincided with plenty of personal trauma.
What his press release describe as "tender meditations" are actually anything but. For example, depression is starkly personified in Darling Sorrow, a song in which the song's narrator takes comfort and strength from having the inner strength to resist throwing himself off a cliff.
The title of I Want To Choose When I Sleep Alone speaks for itself while My Heart's Designed For Pumping Blood is also about isolation and the inability to feel emotionally connected ("Don't look at me for love").
Throughout, Rossiter swoons Morrissey-like over a mess of his own making or, as on No One Left To Blame, he bares his soul with unconcealed self hatred for his "spineless" and "gutless" failings: "Time's made me out a fool, I swore that I'd recover, Stuffed my face fat full of pills, All I wanted was a lover".
If you take the opening track (Three Points On A Compass) as being autobiographical then the source of his problems was in having an inadequate father ("No wisdom handed down, No memories safe and warm").
The single, Drop Anchor, is the most optimistic and romantic tune here as Rossiter sings imploringly of his need for security ("we've been at sea for far too long") yet, even here, likening love to being on a collision course is not entirely reassuring.
Where There Are Pixels suggests the virtual world can provide some comfort ("their life's online, just like mine"); the cleansing, reassuring potential of technology can also be read into the metaphor of the album's title.
The self deprecating I Must Be Jesus ("there's no other explanation for this pain") shows a realisation that being a drama queen has its limits and provides a hint of comic relief from the sombre mood.
The level of candour and introspection on this album means that its qualities are not obvious from the first listen. Like a fine wine its strengths come from a combination of patience and maturity.
It's delicate, a little over precious, but the end result tastes pretty good.
