At last Toy Tin Soldier release their debut CD, a diverse and faultless ten track album of everything we were hoping for and more from this five piece Glasgow band: acoustic rock and folk, easy on the garish pop.
Created by singer/songwriter Joe Gallagher (Mr Kil) in February of this year, the band recorded ten songs written by Gallagher himself while travelling between London, Brighton and Glasgow from 2007-2010. Gallagher writes some exceptionally chart-worthy tunes about love and politics and what not, whilst belting out a solid vocal on this album, alongside Paul Mosley (Eryka) on guitar, Gary John Kane (The Proclaimers) on bass, Scott Cowie (Complete Stone Roses) on drums and Greg Barnes (Horse/Gun) on keyboard.
Those who haven’t been following the band on MySpace will be lucky enough to hear ten totally new tracks, however fans of the band who have seen them live will already have a few favourite songs that they’ve set to repeat. Album opener ‘Only Pictures’, and the highly infectious ‘18’ and ‘Hey Politician’ could easily be the most entertaining on the album, unless you happen to be a bit of a country fan, in which case ‘Bright Eyes’ will be right up your street. However, varied as your music taste may be, skip to ‘Send Up The Flare’ for the haunting and powerful song that will drift through your mind all day after hearing it.
With not one poor song on the album, each one clever and compellingly written, your interest in this band certainly won’t weaken any time soon.
www.toytinsoldier.com.
