On Monday night, I saw one of the most highly anticipated full debut performance from a Bristol artist for quite sometime, this maybe a bit of an over statement as I am always excited about new stuff. I cant help it I get carried away in a thouroughly annoying Blonde style.

Over the past 10 years I have seen Danny Coughlan perform in on his own or enigmatically fronting Bristol folk rockers Babel. a band who sadly dis banded. and so after a couple years later he rem emerged in his latest guise, Crybaby.

It is easy to get carried away whilst trying to sum up what various artists sound like, I know I do this because I canstantly over egg the pudding, if i was ever making one. it is fair to say that Danny along with Caroline Martin, as possibly one of the most consistent song writers in Bristol. Not only that but he has one hell of a set of pipes.

So what is new, well long gone  is the rustic tub thumping that became Babels well warn staple and in comes more of the swooning, kind of melodic croon. It’s like as if he had locked himself away for 2 years in a dark shed with a huge stack of Richard Hawley, Roy Orbison, Bon Iver and Morrisey records. As he tends to focus towards the more morose edge of life.

He has the voice that can break thousands of hearts, no matter what they are made of. its his prowess to sum up the romanticism of lyrical ability, even talking about difficult subjects with an emotional breath. His debut single ‘I cherish The Heartbreak More Then The Love That I lost’  perfectly sums up the feeling of tragic heart break, which is pretty obvious by the songs title. what makes this really stand out is that A there is no musical intro, and the arrangement of the melody perfectly helps his voice swoon with tentative atmosphere.

And he played this song right at the start of the set, clearly indicating that he had supreme confidence in what was to ensue. its so rare that a band would ever do this usually because they are scared that they don’t really have the material to back it up. And what can I say but the set was in my view perfectly formed, in both the the dynamics and melodies of the songs, conjuring up a grand 1950’s feel of washed guitars, reverb driven bass bass and very stripped down drums, literally just, the bare minimum played so it left that kind of delicate feeling.

For people who fondly remember Babel,  I decided to post up a video,  partly because he seems to be trying to keep a bit of a low profile with Crybaby, you know keeping it all word of mouth, and I dont blame him as it seems to be working so far. And just to show the difference.

Cry baby’s début single will be out on March 12th through Helium records, with an  album to follow in April.