Always Coming Home

I’ve got to be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of the singer/songwriter genre. I find a lot of it to be indulgent to the point of opacity and unforgivably humourless. And why do they always sing about meterological phenomenon? Thank God, then, for Sean Millar.

Those who appreciated his 1995 album The Bitter Lie will find much to delight them here. Again he combines excellent melodies, biting lyrics and understated production to illustrate his tales of life, love and loss in a style that sometimes reminiscent of Waits or even Dylan. Importantly though, Millar retains his own distinctive edge throughout, ensuring he can experiment with pop, folk and country styles yet keep a singular thread weaving through the album.

Highlights for this reviewer include ‘Everyclown’ a part-Byrds, part-Big Star story of lost love, ‘Hard Years’ – “There I was out on the streets, dancin’ just to keep warm” and the poppy ‘One More Shot’ which wouldn’t be out of place on a Neil Hannon album.

‘You Just Can’t Let Things Go’ is a song that manages to tell the life story of its Grapes Of Wrath protagonist in under four minutes. It’s a shining example of this writer’s art – “In a supermarket just last week a kid pulled a knife on me/I said ‘For God’s sake, I’m 68 years’ old’/He had eyes like a cat, I never saw nuthin’ look so cold.”

An excellent, excellent album, and one of the best short-story collections I’ve never read.