Mick Flannery occupies a unique position in Irish music in that he’s master of a niche that he’s created all for himself. Gravel-voiced and grizzled as ever, his sombre, understated compositions and steadfast delivery appear to come from another time and place. And while the Tom Waits comparisons might have been apt earlier on in his career, they’ve faded with each release and are largely redundant now. If anything, he sounds more like Johnny Duhan on this, his first album in a couple of years.

Throughout By The Rule the atmosphere is sepia-toned, organic and for the most part downbeat, with few concessions to contemporary production values – no bad thing! The title-track is an elegiac ballad, balancing a gorgeous melody and a pained vocal, buoyed by a tasteful string arrangement. The parlour-room piano on the languid ‘Even Now’ sounds like it was recorded in a dimly-lit Georgian drawing-room with a fire crackling in the background, while the gently-plucked guitar, gorgeous aching harmonies and wistful melody on ‘Bluebird’ mark it out as a highlight. Elsewhere, ‘I’m On Your Side’ is pure gothic Americana, complete with echo-laden acoustic guitar and eerie textures meandering in the background, punctuated in the centre by a distorted electric guitar solo. The mood is lifted, at least partially, on ‘Pride’ – a Neil Young-like country-rock ballad, with a full rhythm section and a tune that could have graced an album like Harvest or After The Goldrush. Meanwhile, the haunting ‘Own It’ has a Springsteen flavour circa The River, while the hymn-like ‘Live In Hope’ boasts a sumptuous brass arrangement, adding depth to a beautiful melody. A keeper.