Season Of The Sparks

Long Distance Swimmer, Adrian Crowley last and best album, seemed to come out of nowhere. Always one, very individual step removed from most of his solo contemporaries, the Dublin-based Galwayman remained on the periphery but came in from the cold on album number four. Released among the no mans land of December 2007 bargain bucket best of’s, the album burnt its way slowly into people’s affections over the ensuing twelve months and remains a seriously enduring listen almost a year and a half on. One would be tempted to utter the words ’career defining’ were its follow-up - Season Of The Sparks - not just as strong.

Crowley’s fifth album sounds at once removed from his fourth. It’s snappier - coming in at some 36 minutes. It can occasionally feel sparser - vocals more confidently weighed over accompaniment. Elsewhere, however, that same instrumentation can swell magnificently - as Crowley acknowledged previously on these pages, he even veers into the unfamiliar territory of writing a chorus on ‘The Wishing Seat’. Immediately different, Season Of The Sparks assumes the familiarity of its predecessor over time, shepherding you back into a world that is all of Crowley’s making. This time you’ll find beekeepers wives, Swedish rooms and dreaming horses and just as you would with one of his heroes Daniel Johnston - whose work Crowley and James Yorkton have just completed a covers album of - it’s impossible not to stay firmly drawn in.

And while Johnston best reference for the allure Season Of The Sparks holds, it doesn’t overstate matters to mention Leonard Cohen’s name when considering the very precise nature of its composition. Every syllable is, once more, uttered with total purpose, sung in almost poetic meter. “Swallows swift” during the 'Wishing Seat' while “kindle” is “gathered in” at the beginning of the album’s title track. Crowley believes more than most that words must hold a listener with or without music and his mysterious tales do make for compelling stand alone reading here. But set to music - this time round for the first time featuring the shivering strings of long time live companions Emma Smith and Vince Siprell of Geese - the package is little short of complete.

And while he may prove an acquired taste to many with a subtle style that begs for patience, Season Of The Sparks proves that there are currently few artists as rewarding. There is also a very definite feeling that ten years and five albums in, Adrian Crowley is only getting going.