The Firstborn Is Dead Recordings **

In commercial terms, Dubliner Stefan Murphy (aka The Mighty Stef) has always motored alongside the ditches rather than the middle of roads. There is a certain appeal here: the rough-as-gravel vocals that, perhaps inevitably, reference the likes of Tom Waits and Nick Cave; the so-loose-it-falls approach to song arranging; the almost studious attitude towards elegantly wasted rock'n'roll. This album, however, is Stef's third, and by the end of final track The Harbour Song(a truly abysmal fusion of the ramshackle and roughshod), you're left nursing the opinion that Stef is too much in thrall to the romance of the tortured genius of too many once-had- it-but- lost-it artists. There is some sturdy, invigorating music here ( We Want Blood, Georgia Girl, Jeffrey Lee Pierce), but more often than not it's set off balance by a misguided sense of influence. See themightystef. com

Download tracks: Georgia Girl, Jeffrey Lee Pierce