Successfully embodying the heartbroken crooner from time gone by, this elegantly miserable debut from Crybaby, real name Danny Coughlan, sits so perfectly amongst the likes of Richard Hawley and The Smiths, it’s hard to consider him a new artist at all. A thesaurus for anyone stuck on words for ‘sadness’, Crybaby’s silky, crooning vocals tell you a hundred alternatives, while his gripping melodies unravel heartbreak and loss on every level. Album opener, ‘I Cherish The Heartbreak More Than The Love I Lost’ is all knowlingly clichéd unrequited love, while ‘Veils’ and ‘A Misery Of Love’ are wonderfully despondent.
Essentially, ‘Crybaby’ is an album that achieves exactly what it set out to do.

Rachael Hogg