Matt Berry

★★★ Phantom Birds ACID JAZZ. CD/DL/LP Sixth solo album from Laszlo Cravensworth’s alter go. Side careers in music haven’t always worked out well for others in Matt Berry’s main profession, but the star of What We Do In The Shadows and Toast Of London has made a good fist of changing that narrative. There’s no denying his music fan bona fides: he bought a flat in London’s Royal Victoria Dock because it overlooked the site of Jean Michel Jarre’s 1988 Destination Docklands concert. On Phantom

Birds he discards his thespian tendencies and writes and sings from the heart like never before, drawing on his love of Dylan’s Nashville albums and playing nearly the entire LP himself, alongside a little pedal steel help from BJ Cole. There may be a couple too many mid-tempo chugs among

Phantom Birds’ 13 tracks, but Berry has a knack for lyrics that pick away at self-doubt and brave public faces.