*Splash!* - Breaking the Dam (self-released)

It’s strange what you notice first about an album. Sometimes, it is the artwork; it might be the sound of a particular song or the wording of a lyrical line. Being a fan of Haruki Murakami it was the title of a song. “Kafka on the Shore” is a novel with the titular song at its heart; the fact that the song is never revealed in the sonic sense makes it ripe for imagination by musicians. Here, Splash! takes it into the realms of a neo-classical piano piece, one gently carrying the poetic lyrics as it slowly cocoons itself in additional string washes, a suitable dreamy soundtrack to a masterfully mercurial book.

But one song does not make an album, and anyway, I am jumping ahead somewhat. The album actually opens with Splash!‘s masterful debut single, “Under The Rose,” a blend of folk finesse and indie sonic inclusions, a song with both pace and poise.

“When The Well Runs Dry” is a lilting and lovely piece, again leaning into the folk form but underpinned with everything from growling rock guitars to New Orleans brass, from skiffle shuffle beats to pop vocals, if you can imagine such a thing…and the fact that I ask you to imagine such a strange sound shows just how unique the music is, let alone often difficult to put into adequate words.

“Light and Shadow” feels like a 60s Laurel Canyon player…perhaps Jackson Browne…doing their thing, “Always Greener” blends Latin vibes into its almost psychedelic folk-rock moves, and “Love & Ignorance” is both brilliantly fragile and lyrically vulnerable.

If “Under The Rose” is a brilliant debut single, then Breaking the Dam is precisely the album that it hinted at to follow.