Thinking Sideways

Too often, acts from this side of the pond who say they play bluegrass or country actually churn out a kind of middle-of-the-road acoustic pop. Thankfully, that's not the case with Irish country quartet Mules & Men. The opener may be called ‘Procrastination Blues’ but it doesn't hang about: it's a rough-and-ready ode to bad behaviour with spiky banjo, rapid-fire fiddle and distorted vocals. ‘When the bottle's almost gone, let's have another one,’ holler the quartet. All four of the group sing; presumably it's songwriter and banjo player Luke Coffey handling lead vocals, though the breathy female voice of guitarist Lily Sheehan provides a sweet contrast on ‘Meet Me in the Morning’. Mark Corry and John Denby provide attitude-soaked dobro and mandolin respectively.

Thinking Sideways swerves rapidly from messy, fun hoedowns like ‘Red Lemonade’ to bittersweet, big-harmony tracks such as ‘Write Me a Letter’. ‘Donegal’ centres upon a moody drone, ending up somewhere between Johnny Cash and Lankum, while ‘Mama, Don't You Love Me Anymore’ conjures up the Friday night at the honky-tonk feel of prime Hank Williams. This is Americana with bed-head hair and its dirty shirt hanging out.