Tag: Gary O’Brien

You all know the name of Mark Radcliffe but David Boardman may not be so familiar. Mark and David are both members of, and principal songwriters for the alt-Anglo-country band FineLines. And if you can come up with a better description of them please let us know.  As well as being at the core of the band, Mark and David also work as a duo and Hearsay & Heresy is their second album with this line-up.

It’s tempting to say that Hearsay & Heresy sticks fairly closely to the FineLines template but there are as many differences as similarities. The familiar Americana groove is in place but the sound is lighter with the duo supported discreetly by Les Hilton on harmonica, fiddle by Clare Smith and Gary O’Brien on piano. There is a timeless Britishness about some of the songs; the kind of lyrics we might have listened to sixty years ago. Even then, though, the Americana instrumentation gently contrasts with the subject matter.

I felt at first that the opening track, ‘Merchant City, Driving Rain’, might be about Liverpool – Mark comes from the north-west and hangs around with a certain band from Wigan – but it’s actually about a stormy night in Glasgow. There is no geographical confusion about ‘On Euston Road’ but the song is decorated with a lovely Spanish-sounding acoustic guitar – Boardman, I suspect – giving it an American feel. Of course, if there is a Euston Road in Kansas City I’ll take that all back.

‘Steal The Sea’ takes us back in time to the building of the Manchester Ship Canal and reminds me of the kind of song that The Broadside made their own. Despite its reference to “a lone star state of mind” I reckon that ‘The Long Ridge’ is actually about The Pennine Way but I could be wrong. ‘At The Bar San Calisto’ is about a favourite watering hole in Rome with Smith adding some gypsy violin and it contrasts with ‘Down The Steps’, a rather less salubrious drinking establishment in Manchester where they serve “corned beef hash and Barnsley chops”. Despite their protestations to the contrary, both this and ‘Never Had The Last Dance’ are exercises in nostalgia.

‘Moon Fishermen’ is something of a puzzle – it’s possibly about illegal fishing…or not and ‘Right Side Of The Tracks’ is another “what’s this really about?” song. Youthful indiscretions perhaps? Finally, ‘The Not So Grand Hotel’ is the album’s really serious song coming out of last year’s anti-immigration riots – something of a downbeat closer given what has gone before.

Hearsay & Heresy is an album to play just to groove along to and sometimes that is exactly what you need.

Dai Jeffries

Label website: www.talkingelephant.co.uk

‘Steal The Sea’ – live: