For most, two consecutive Top 10 albums is fine and dandy. But not for James Veck-Gilodi. Deaf Havana’s fourth record details the singer’s struggles with booze, success and self-doubt on an arena-sized scale.
Where its three predecessors charted a journey from screaming post-hardcore angst to Springsteen-indebted heartland rock, All These Countless Nights goes straight for the commercial jugular. Ashes To Ashes and Sing are perfectly crafted anthems designed to connect with audiences from Hollywood to Hunstanton. Ironically, it’s Veck-Gilodi himself who lets the side down.
The otherwise terrific Fever and Happiness (‘My drinking takes its toll on everybody around me’) plaster on the poor-me self-loathing with all the depth and finesse of a teenage diary, which is fine if you’re actually a teenager, but not when you’re hurtling through your late 20s. A little bit of growing up wouldn’t go amiss.
