Electronic solo singer-songwriter-producer types can often make the same sort of music, but thankfully MMOTHS (Irishman Jack Colleran) has made sure he doesn’t go down that particular path. There is a sense of Ireland’s wide open spaces in his music, the textures making use of shoegaze influences but not overdoing the distortion or refurb, thanks to the elegant piano that sometimes cuts through the fuzzy atmospherics. ‘Ohm’ is a majestic example of Colleran getting everything right, while the warmth of opening tracks ‘You’ and ‘Deu’ seem to me to represent the green, lush scenery of the wild. ‘Luneworks’ ends with a distorted high pitch that won’t be to everybody’s tastes on headphones, but it does at least show that Colleran is not afraid to push the boat out if he needs to. By this time he has established himself as a subtle songwriter able to use voice and texture in complementary ways, making an album that is ultimately relaxing but never routine.
4 out of 5
Reviewed by Ben Hogwood
