This is the debut album from Irish songwriter Michael Cleary’s creation ‘My Brother Woody’. It takes the sound of coastal American pop from the likes of The Beach Boys, Big Star and more recently, fellow countrymen, The Thrills.
So from that you know you are getting a catchy summer pop album but what you also get is highly talented musicianship, well crafted lyrics that can be a bit kooky and some dreamy brass backing in a few of the songs.
‘Wish I Was a DJ’ will capture perfectly some peoples thoughts on current radio. The line “picking playlists, playing songs for people’s dads” certainly struck a chord with what this reviewer would sometimes like to hear more of on the radio.
‘Hanging Around’ is a piece of classic summer pop and certainly has the radio playlist potential to get the bands music out to the masses, as long as there are still radio stations out there with the sensibilities to not just play the rubbish that fills today’s charts.
‘Getting Old Goes With Getting Fat’ is where the kooky comes in and is a humorous look at changing your diet to stop getting fat when you get old but really just wanting to eat some fatty foods.
The album continues in the same vain running through slower melodies of ‘I Got a Girl’ to the self loathing of ‘Not Exactly What You Dreamed Of’. So if at times you like your life coloured summer pop and who doesn’t like a pick me up album some times then you should buy My Brother Woody.
//Gordon Neil