SONGDOG
Joy Street 7/10
Under his Songdog guise, Lyndon Morgans has built a cultish reputation as a deliciously dark peddler of melancholic folk-noir. Joy Street’s upbeat title doesn’t mean he’s suddenly turned into a happy-clappy cheerleader of all things bright and breezy. But the stoicism is exquisitely nuanced by epicurean pleasure on songs such as “Raise Your Glass In Praise”, which surges on a riff vaguely reminiscent of “Brown Eyed Girl” and not only mourns “lost opportunities” and “overcast April days”, but also hymns the possibility of “the backroads to heaven” and “long days of plenty”. Dylan Thomas meets Ray Davies backed by The Waterboys? Believe it.