Oxygen Thief (myspace.com/oxygenthief) is the current solo project of 24 year-old Bristol resident Barry Dolan. “We’re In The Best Of Hands” is his new, self-released mini-album.
Dolan describes his music as “acoustic warfare” with the aim being to “sing LOUD” and play his guitar to “within an inch of its life”. This is an accurate description, as Dolan plays with a vigour verging on the brutal, but without forgetting the importance of writing good songs.
And there are definitely some very good songs here. The first track “Ours” is the ideal way to be introduced to Dolan’s work, with carefully used drumbeats supplementing the energetic guitars and vocals.
Track 2, “Owing” has an urgent, choppy riff running through it. The sound could be described as “acoustic hardcore/punk”. Indeed, if you want a phrase which categorises the album as a whole, that would be it...
“It’s Good But It’s Not Right” demonstrates that these songs not only have substance, but are accessible too.
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Final track “FightSlashFlight” has a slightly Eastern tinge to it, and chorus enhanced by female backing vocals. It manages to be quite reminiscent of the fist in the air “gang chant” choruses that punk/hardcore songs often have.
The singer-songwriter has enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance in recent times, and while Dolan fits into this general classification, his music is a LONG way from the trite nonsense of your Blunts, Morrisons and Faulkners. What we have here is music, which nods more towards the inventive, meaningful and passionate work of a Frank Turner, Chris T-T or Malcolm Middleton.
It's acoustic Jim, but not as we know it...
Well worth investigating.
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