Album Review: Ron Sexsmith, Hangover Terrace

Boasting a generous 14 tracks of vintage Sexsmith soft-rock, Hangover Terrace gets straight down to business with the confident strut of ‘Don’t Lose Sight’.

With our own CMAT already declaiming about the same subject, maybe Ron Sexsmith’s ode to the housing crisis on ‘Camelot Towers’ might add extra urgency to the issue. ‘Cigarette And Cocktail’ features a nostalgic vibe, with the singer reflecting on his parents’ leisure habits.

The plaintive acoustic guitar on ‘Angel On My Shoulder’, meanwhile, presages a vocal imbued with Nick Cave-level pain.

‘House Of Love’ is an appealing, McCartney-style slowie, and ‘Easy For You To Say’ is a laidback reflection on alienation. Add in the Ray Davies inflections of the up-tempo ‘It’s Been A While’, and the brash ‘Rose Town’, and you get an overall picture of a man not as happy as he was yesterday – but still working on it.

7.5/10