Album Review: Talos, Far Out Dust

Talos's debut album, Wild Alee, was the recipient of rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. It eventually clocked up in excess of 25 million Spotify streams and was shortlisted for the Choice Music Prize.

Indeed, so successful was his debut that Eoin French was able to give up working as an architect and university lecturer to concentrate on music full-time.

Far Out Dust is his wide-screen sophomore effort: written in New York City, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Cork, and Reykjavik, the album features a host of well-known international producers, like Valgeir Sigursson (Sigur Ros, Feist), Damian Taylor (Arcade Fire, Bjork) and Doug Schadt (Maggie Rogers), all aiding and abetting the Corkman in creating his cinematic sonic landscape.

What a landscape it is.

Album opener, ‘Boy I Was Wrong’, sets the tone from the off: there’s more drama than an Eastenders omnibus, as it builds from a tremulous beginning to a soaring maelstrom of synths, percussion and falsetto vocals. ‘The Flood’, too, morphs from aching piano ballad to insistent rocker in less than three-and-a-half-minutes, while ‘Dawn, The Front’ veers from delicate, piano-led confessional to synth assault. It’s not all pomp and bombast, however. ‘See Me’ is mid-paced, layered, intelligent pop, with French admitting, “I’m too afraid to be honest.”

‘On And On’ is a whimsical, piano-driven waltz, while ‘2AM’ is an aching, synth-driven rumination on an intimate encounter in the small hours. At its best, Far Out Dust sounds like James Vincent McMorrow jamming with Sigur Ros, as on the glacial majesty of ‘To Each His Own’ or the celestial rapture of ‘Let Go’, which almost singlehandedly redefines the meaning of epic. Current single ‘The Light Upon Us’ is deliciously warm, like wrapping yourself in a sonic sleeping bag, with a brass section so joyous that it’s almost impossible to listen to without feeling a rush of contentment rising up from the gut.

This is a seriously impressive album that’s sure to cement French’s place as a rising international star.