The Dead Man's Waltz – The Dead Man's Waltz

Taking their cues from the more morbid side of life, The Dead Man’s Waltz don’t so much pen songs as craft twisted tales of betrayal, murder and obsession that would’ve left Edgar Allan Poe feeling a bit flushed. That they choose to deliver them draped in brush-stroked snare and an accordion’s mournful drone is merely one facet of this quartet’s macabre collective personality, but from what’s on show here it’s a charming personality indeed.

Opening with an unsettling blend of wartime radio broadcasts and fairground paraphernalia, Union Street leads the way in an unassuming wave of soft balladry, but it’s the album’s more ostentatious pieces that capture the imagination. Fallow Fields rolls along with a bouncing accordion melody and a dramatic, rousing outro while Old Man delivers a psychedelic burst of rock that retains the solemn tone while adding a whole new realm to their sound. Call them stories or call them songs, they all deserve to be heard.