Findlay Brown - Separated By The Sea

Here at DIY, we love nothing more than to snuggle up together in front of the fire while someone much older and wiser than us regales us with tales of pure schadenfraude. So the news that this new album from Findlay Brown – a former bare-knuckle boxer beloved of Morrissey – was inspired by the rocky, long-distance relationship with a Danish girlfriend caused us to squirm with uncontained glee.

First track ’I Will (Ghost Ship)’ opens with aching, Keane-esque atmospherics that seem to evoke the feeling of soaring across oceans. Of course, it’s a theme common to the rest of the album, particularly on the sinuous ’But You Love Me’ and the quietly mournful title track. Findlay’s angelically grizzled voice slowly unveils his heart with a rare, measured grace that tempers ’Separated by the Sea’’s musical beauty.

Of course, if there’s anything that DIY loves more than a story of pain, it’s a story of pain with a happy ending. Our hero Findlay sent his songs across the sea, in CD cases stuffed with dried flowers, and won back his lady love. And, flowers or not, he’ll do the same to us.