Album Review: Colin O'Shea, Bright Yellow Shiny Gold

This is Dublin-based singer-songwriter Colin O’Shea’s second album following his impressive debut, Scars And Tones. It was three years in the making, with David Prendergast in the producer’s chair. He and O’Shea have created a cohesive melange of styles, which touch on commercial and accessible pop, subtle rock strains, and an overlay of contemporary electronica.

It opens with ‘After All’, which finds O’Shea’s aching, pleading vocals starring on a track that comes with infectious, Edge-like riffs. ‘Amazing’ maintains the same cautious mood, slow and reflective, with O’Shea’s plaintive vocal drawing on all your sympathies.

The excellent  ‘Hollywood On Fire’ ups the mood with references to dancing, amid Randy Newman-style melodic flourishes. The piano-dominated ‘Pure Love’ is a celebration of the power love has to heal us all – O’Shea delivers it likes he means it. The album ends with ‘Those Days’,  O’Shea almost getting jiggy with it, his voice a mix of anguish for the past and hope for a future.

Taken as a whole, Bright Yellow Shiny Gold benefits from uncluttered production. It eschews modern trends towards crowded backing, so O’Shea’s expressive, Bono-in-need-of-Benylin voice and his heartfelt lyrics are unfiltered. Jolly light-hearted escapist pothis is not, but rather an artist communicating thoughtful observations that are  well worthy of your time.

Listen: ‘Hollywood On Fire’
Score: 8/10

Out now, self-released.

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