Dan Michaelson And The Coastguards – Distance

Pockets of bittersweet delight...

Oh, ‘Evergreen’, with your palpable ache, your hard skin born of emotional hammer blows.

You open this album with such striking effect – evocative of a Sparklehorse song half-forgotten, now immediately recalled in the most vivid colour. You paint Dan Michaelson’s exquisite baritone in three dimensions with the most elegant backing, a progression from minimalism into majesty.

Of course, you’re not quite a precedent-setter, as later on ‘Distance’ loses some of that heart-to-heart directness, growing at times further away from the listener’s affections. But you do point the way to ‘Every Step’, to ‘Bones’ and ‘Evening Light’, pockets of bittersweet delight.

They’re worth the minor missteps along the way.

6/10

Words: Mike Diver

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Listen to ‘Distance’ in full via Deezer, below…

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