Album Review: Lighting Matches (Deluxe), TOM GRENNAN

Tom Grennan’s debut album has been long-awaited since the July 2017 single ‘Found What I’ve Been Looking For’ earned a spot on the FIFA 18 soundtrack. It’s not a bad attempt for a fella from Bedford, who only got into singing after a drunken rendition of The Kooks’ ‘Seaside’ at a house party. Yet many of the confessional tracks hereon could easily belong to any indie pop-rocker occupying the charts of late. Grennan’s gravelly voice is what you’d expect of George Ezra after a pack of Amber Leaf – see ‘Royal Highness’ and ‘Run In The Rain’ for confirmation. The album is also laced with that enunciation typical of recently popular indie singers: the kind where vowels are extremely rounded and everything else is mumbled. For example, the word “just” becomes “jowst”, “I” becomes “oiy” and so on. This can be grating at times. Still, the album makes for an enjoyable listen. The latter half – notably ‘Make ‘Em Like You’ and ‘Praying’ – is filled with the type of soul that Hozier and Rag’n’Bone Man bring to their music. Highlights include ‘Sober’ and ‘Secret Lover’, two catchy, seductive songs that lend themselves well to the ‘cheeky chappy’ persona we’d expect from a 23-year-old former professional footballer. There’s room to improve, but Lighting Matches is not a bad first fifteen minutes. He may turn into a goal machine yet. OUT NOW

Rating: 6/10