Dalton - Dalton

Starting as it means to go on, 'Bedford & Grand' opens the album with a melancholic piano refrain which captures the essence of Flaming Lips re-writing Badfinger classic 'Without You'. Ending much like it started 'So Long So Well' polishes things off with a broken guitar and a bruised microphone. In between Dalton pays his own subtle tribute to the history of alternative North American rock with a sound which nods at the maverick ghosts of Talking Heads, Neil Young, Afghan Whigs, Guided By Voices and beyond, at one particularly surreal point actually rekindling the sunshine-shuffling flame of Blightys very own Mungo Jerry. So it's sad rock, but hard-edged, forever accompanied by Nates terrifically lived-in vocals.