Head On

Once the percussive engine room of devil-sign-making cartoon metallers Therapy?, then the author of beautifully judged turns drumming for Gemma Hayes and The Frames, Graham Hopkins is now coming quite wonderfully into his own as a solo artist. Any strength he may lack as a vocalist (his reedy tenor takes a few listens to get one’s head round) is more than made up for by his unshowy, complicated, grown-up songwriting, pitched somewhere between Gemma Hayes’ gentle-pop sensibility and the sophisticated minor-key complexity of Ben Folds Five, minus the latter band’s (unbelievably irritating) clever-clever tendencies. Kudos as well goes to the Odlum brothers for yet another rich, evocative production job.