For his second album, Conor Furlong marries heartfelt vocals with thoughtful orchestrations. There’s a Mike Oldfield feel to the lengthy opener ‘Atlantis’, although the vocals aren’t totally convincing. But the energised bluster of the guitar-driven ‘Wrong’ is quite startling, following which ‘Are You Gonna Sleep Tonight?’ decamps to Moody Blues territory. Such versatility is admirable in a way, but may hinder Furlong’s cause on the marketing front. There’s an appealing starkness to the ballad ‘Burn’, whilst ‘The Preacher’ emerges from a portentously eerie beginning we could have done with more of, before turning into a standard rock-guitar track with occasionally sour vocals. ‘Enough’ also has patchy moments, and could have been a knock-out indie-folk ballad. With influences that also range from Brian Wilson to Nick Cave and Mercury Rev, Playing With Fire is a logical progression from Furlong’s debut Eternal, but where it’ll eventually take him and us remains to be seen. It should be worth hanging on for the ride, though.