Dirty Beau: Backseat Driver 
Out Now
Mancunian man about town and ex-Mysterine Darragh Burke continues the stellar work of his alter ego with a self-produced gem of crooning ghost pop. MK Bennett remembers.
Song one, Radio Silence, is almost heroically maudlin, with that air of resigned beauty and faded splendour, derelict seaside towns and seasonal workers, the lush strings reminiscent of the Last Shadow Puppets. While Daragh’s louche and distant observations settle like mist and the Waltzer’s keep spinning, the local drunk stumbles past the arcade, unconsciously humming the theme of the one-armed bandit. The beautiful, funereal keys sing for you, absorbing the depth of the words to paint you a picture. The clever but understated arrangement, lush yet lo-fi, suggests an optimism before returning to zero. Frankly magnificent.
Change Your Mind’s accumulation and assimilation of every Arctic Monkeys song, and its echoes of Scott Walker, the doomed crooner, the windswept storyteller, is also Beck-like, with drums that kick but remain laidback. It shouldn’t work, but it fits superbly, dragging the melody deliciously behind the beat, while the atmosphere brings to mind dusted ballrooms and art-filled corridors and boy bands gone rogue.
Song three, Backseat Driver itself, gives us epic Eastern European vibes, subtle orchestration, and tastefully plucked pizzicato strings, but with an excellent up-front bass that drives it forward, and a killer hook that sits comfortably in XTC / Edwyn Collins territory. It is a real standout, and the exemplary guitar playing elevates it further. The production, with its lightly experimental flavour, coasts between buffed indie and high-end robot pop and lands at an indeterminate and happy accident somewhere South of Sheffield. A lot is going on behind these stories, universal and autobiographical but detached, like the thing, whatever it may be, has already happened and he is simply making preparations to report back from the front lines, a documentarian of the broken-hearted. Fortalice has another great drum pattern, enacting a sort of slow-motion funk. Its heavily loaded title is a reference to both a general place of safety and a charity that is a refuge for women and children escaping domestic abuse. There’s a decent Go-Betweens influence behind the radio interference too, and the Richard Hawley school of crooning excellence.
Of the EP he says :
“Backseat Driver is an introspective exploration of my own flaws; the narrative generally revolves around how people struggle against their own mind and beliefs, whether that be emotional, spiritual or social. I feel that there is also a general sense of acceptance of these flaws in the lyrics, and the coming to terms with the people that we are.”
Stella starts as an acoustic strum that threatens to turn into a big rock epic but restrains itself until it reaches the chorus, where the cyclical arrangement and backward guitar solo reveal themselves in wonderful, bombastic glory. Like the rest of the EP, it is unapologetically big, a statement of future intent from a man of serious letters. On this showing, you can assume he is just getting started, but if the monologuist’s perfection of the words and voice doesn’t captivate you, then the subtle brilliance of the songs and their sounds will. Absolutely one to watch.
Dirty Beau’s Instagram | Facebook
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All words by MK Bennett, you can find his author’s archive here plus his Twitter and Instagram
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