On this his fourth album, Irish singer-songwriter Adrian Crowley calls on James Yorkston to give him a hand, and it's easy to see why; they probably share the same brand of antidepressant.Opener 'Bless Our Tiny Hearts' is a direct rip off (perhaps inadvertently) of Ani Difranco classic 'Beautiful Face', although I expect the tune has been used before by others. It's not a touch on Difranco's tune either, but it’s nice enough without ever making much of an impact. Next track 'These Ley Waters' is a bit livelier, invoking Whipping Boy and Echo and the Bunnymen both in the deadpan vocal delivery and mood, being dark and brooding and head nodding in equal measure. He even mentions horses, although admittedly not dancing ones.But the fun stops there. 'Star of the Harbour' drifts back into morose territory, while 'Temporary Residence’ is positively (or should that be negatively?) dreary. And then, boom! He manages to drag it down another notch with 'Walk on Part'. "Of all the bedrooms in this town, you walked into mine," he groans. Oh please. If you're going to be self indulgent and miserable, at least do it with some character or poetic finesse. "I had a walk-on part, in the movie of your life, though I stumbled on the lines." Yeah, that bad. Although his fans will probably claim he's being ironic or clever.But it's not all bad news. 'Victoria' gets back on track musically with a goth ballad feel, while 'Harmony Row' would happily sit on a Whipping Boy or nick Cave album; lights going out, church bells ringing, high ridges - great stuff. Certainly a contender for the Nick Cave Dark Cliche Award but hey, if it moos, milk it. His voice suits, so go west, young man. Trumpets and 'aah aaaahs' top it off nicely.After a nice instrumental break though, its back to the full-on melancholy, cliché and miserabilism, by which time I'm starting to lose the will to live a bit, to be honest. It's not like I don't like a good miserable singer-songwriter; it's more that I think Crowley is an average one. The tunes with the band dynamic work well, and he's proved he can pull off the spaghetti Western feel required, but the worthy, chin-stroking stuff is unconvincing and just too much for me to swallow. Nice arrangements, intersting voice, but dreary's dreary and with lyrics that fail to make up for it, this is far too fifty-fifty to keep me coming back. 64%Links Adrian Crowley [myspace]