BRIAN FALLON

Sleepwalkers 8/10

Former gaslight Anthem singer’s solo career gets into stride

Brian Fallon’s 2015 solo debut Painkillers was considerable consolation for the apparent demise of The Gaslight Anthem, not least because Fallon clearly felt no obligation to distance himself from the many virtues of his former band. Sleepwalkers is perhaps more generally raucous than its predecessor, from the giddy Motown moves of opener “If Your Prayers Don’t Get To Heaven” to the sax-soaked Springstonia of the title track to the Clash-like punk stomper “Forget Me Not”. But it maintains throughout that signature guileless fealty to soulful rock’n’roll, laced as usual with the wry melancholy that distinguishes Fallon’s lyrics.