Adrian Crowley

★★★★

The Watchful Eye Of The Stars CHEMIKAL UNDERGROUND. CD/DL/LP

Irish bard’s eighth album, recorded with P.J. Harvey collaborator John Parrish.

Crowley’s weathered baritone and restrained elegance are seductive weapons, but he’s a master storyteller too: The Watchful Eye… opens with, “Day one, I stole on board a northbound ship”, and the spell is cast. Therein, Crowley mirrors fellow baritones Leonard Cohen and Bill Callahan’s model of maximal wordage and minimal arrangement, even when an orchestra is used. The sea is a constant companion: Ships On The Water ebbs on a sombre guitar that’s very Street Hassle; in a gentler Bread And Wine, he’s “playing piano in a harbour bar”, watching the crowd. On land, Crow Song recalls the departure of an injured bird Crowley nursed (“And I was joyous for you/But shattered none-the-less”) before a funereal woodwind coda. Crowley makes enthralling company.