Nicolai Dunger is one of those names you hear around, though one that never really building up a portfolio of fervent press attention. Not that this is for the want of trying – Play is his sixteenth album (although some sources list fewer). He’s worked with Will Oldham, Mercury Rev and Calexico, and after a few years of genre excursions, this is his first ‘pop’ market record since 2004. For a back to basics approach, Dunger strips away all those references and accroutrements for a rootsy, largely acoustic in the round setting. As such, Dunger’s immediate influences are writ larger. His soulful wail has very definite echoes of prime Van Morrison, echoing Tim Buckley and Damien Rice in its direct, downhome style. Not for nothing does he call the opener ‘Heart And Soul’, evoking the kind of ersatz grasp for meaning in vocal style folk-blues was all about.

And the truth is… it’s OK. That’s about it. In a crowded field there’s nothing that seeks to grab you, no great lyrical insight or musical invention. The Van Morrison comparison is as much curse as blessing, sometimes the rhythm and blues joy of ‘Time Left To Spend’, just as often aimless ‘soul’ bleating. Indeed, more than once the backing threatens to turn into John Denver, and while alternative music is taking in a very wide area these days there’s surely no room for that sort of thing – and the rootsiness attempted occasionally ends up recalling nobody so much as David Gray.

The most glaring exception is Play‘s standout, and even then it requires outside intervention. Dunger guested on the last A Camp album, and Nina Persson gets to return the complement on ‘Tears In A Child’s Eye’, instantly recalling Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra in its dusty atmosphere and enveloping vocal ranges. A little more consideration as to how to effectively use inspirations and a little less pandering to ‘authentic’ notions and Dunger, strange as it may seem to say about someone with such a sizeable back catalogue, could start going places.