Fractured Soul is the debut of British five-piece Moody McArdle, led by music veteran Tommy McArdle.
In ‘Fractured Soul’, the title track of the album, Tommy McArdle lays his soul bare, taking experiences from his day job in a Regional Secure Unit for mentally disordered offenders. Spending his days with some of the most vulnerable people in society has obviously affected McArdle deeply and unsurprisingly those experiences have filtered through to his music. His vocals have a definite hint of gravel that suggests he is coming from a genuine place, although the overall production is a little too glossy for them to really shine through but they are matched by the subtle, almost sparse, melodic performance of the rest of the band.
‘Curtain Call’ suggests that they have the potential to be much more ambitious and less clean and tidy sounding: blending a gritty, spit-and-sawdust hint of blues-folk with delicate commercial rock. Overall it’s a bleak sound, at times fragile, hence the name Moody is more than appropriate, but the gently strummed guitars and accents of piano cut through with a sense of hope.
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The album seems to constantly dodge offending anyone by keeping as gentle and radio-friendly as possible. At no point do any of the instruments fall into any of the old commercial rock traps: there are no over inflated guitar solos here, just simply a beefed up accompaniment to McArdle as a singer-songwriter. Sadly by doing so they manage to avoid producing anything spectacular and they could benefit from getting a little drunk, a little dirty, a little rowdy and maybe not caring quite so much.
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