Major-Key Melancholy with a Gritty Edge
Robin Mukherjee, a regular on Manchester’s live music scene, has released an album that would have been one of the highlights of 2020, even if much of the music world hadn’t been forcibly closed down for many weeks. Packed with some of the most deliciously melancholic music you will hear in a major key, ‘Regent Road’ is as smooth and stylish as anything by Damien Rice or Badly Drawn Boy, and even recalls Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and Lou Reed.
Playing the guitar, piano, and mandolin, Mukherjee’s music is particularly characterized by arpeggios swooping attractively. His lyrics contain small-town ennui, including in the opener ‘I Used to Stand Tall’ and the title track. There is also repressed romance in ‘The Back of My Mind’ and ‘By Your Side’. But that is not to say the lyrics are soft-edged.
‘Sweet Dreams My Angel’ belongs in the tradition of ‘love’ ballads that are much more antagonistic than they will seem to the more passive listener. The character that the lyrics address has ‘an ego the size of dad’s wallet’, and a pillow as cold as her heart. This is followed by a chorus with all the understated animosity of Sting’s ‘Every Breath You Take’. You can read the whole review here.
I am passionate about creative activities like songwriting and prose fiction, and the mechanics behind how a piece succeeds or fails. That is why I like to review other artists’ work. If you have an album, book, or other work you want reviewing, please don’t hesitate to hit me up on mcgeary at gmail dot com
Kevin McGeary 