Rising Sun

This album by Obi Hunter aka Owen O’Brien presents a platter of lovely melancholic tunes, with an endearing, yet exacting attention to melodicism and lyricism. Although often singing of lovelorn loneliness, there is a lightness and amiability to Obi Hunter’s approach, with echoes of traditional, country and even brooding ’80s synth-pop elements somehow blending in and remaining relatively unobtrusive within the album as a whole.

From the dreamy Brian Wilson-esque chorus of the title track to ‘Dark Companion’ (perhaps showing shades of latter day Prefab Sprout in the dynamic synthesiser and drum flourishes) to the whispery harmonies of ‘Lover’ and the slinky keyboards and insistent guitar pangs of ‘Guardian Angel’, there is an immediately familiar and appealing quality to the songs.

Owen sings in satisfyingly deep lugubrious tones reminiscent of Edwyn Collins on tracks like ‘Mary Magdalene’ and ‘Movin On’, while ‘Sylvia’ (“She’s

a genius, she’s my wife”), whether about Plath or a personal paramour, is a heart-felt ode to the female in question.

The music is swathed in a very palatable and romantic air of darkness, and while the lyrics at their best are very poetic, they don’t get annoyingly arcane, ensuring Rising Sun makes for very pleasant listening.