Songdog - A Life Eroding

With previous releases ‘The Time Of Summer Lightning’ and ‘A Wretched Sinner’s Song’ raising a few eyebrows upon release, all eyes are on Songdog’s new album, ‘A Life Eroding’, to continue this upward trend of musicianship.

The musical team, comprising of playwright Lyndon Morgan, fellow Welsh countryman Karl Woodward and Dave Paterson, deal with intimate songs that unashamedly share the same boat as Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes, even down to the fragile vocals; unfortunately these songs are nothing exceptional and certainly nothing new.

Upon first listen, the album is an overly sparse affair, Morgan’s observations on life are barely punctuated by a flittering of acoustic guitar, French organs and the occasional drum beat. It’s certainly not a straightforward listen, the eleven tracks on offer here are so defiantly underwhelming that it is tempting to leave this well alone in favour of something a little more upbeat and lively.

Yet, there are signs of life that keep ‘A Life Eroding’ on the right side of enjoyable upon second and third listens. The jaunty ‘The Widow’ is perhaps a little too late to change the overall opinion, it’s viola breathing some much needed life and soul into what most people will quantify as merely another country acoustic band. The marginally creepy ‘Obadiah’s Waltz’ is a enjoyable ball of nervous energy, whilst ‘It’s raining on the ‘Cat’s Old Grave’ sticks to a more tried and tested formula, proving there is a heart in this cold beast after all.