President Sweetheart – I Play My Shadow

Lost and found and looking back; the first outing for President Sweetheart, the latest vehicle for (Neil Halstead collaborator) Nick Holton and friend/foil Tom Butterworth, and it’s certainly bittersweet. The nine tracks present are acoustic-driven and heathery, the electric guitar bought out to add nuance and accentuation.

The problem (if it is a problem) is that there’s no great revelation; more a gentle prodding towards love and loss that occasionally drifts toward that phony gravitas employed by TV execs during modern sitcom credits – the idea that what you’ve just watched is more profound than it actually is because Handbags and Gladrags or some such is soundtracking the cast list. I Play My Shadow isn’t insincere – there’s humour to Still Not Right, self-deprecation about Promise, while highlight Do You Feel Like Those Other Girls suggests a seam of Americana that’s most pleasing. But sometimes playing with regret isn’t enough – not if you don’t know how to fix the problem. [Duncan Harman]