From itm?’s considerable “fallen between the cracks” section, a 6-track download that demands your attention. From one third of Peel favourites The Aphrodisiacs, this is, surprisingly, little like that band’s electronic-fueled guitar rock; Comrade Down offering more simply played and sung songs on solo guitar and bass. Like De Rosa in acoustic mode it’s heartfelt themes of love and hope (and on ‘Fear’, um, fear) that drive this outfit. Despite the stripped-down one-man nature of the new outfit, it has the strong songwriting of John Cairns’ former band, and in ‘Men of Steel’ there’s a hint of that throbbing pulsatingly percussive kind of modern folk music that his former band were so adept at producing.
