The Mojo Fins – Shake the Darkness

Quite why the worlds of post-rock and sensitive singer-songwriter balladry don’t meet more often is an enigma, as The Mojo Fins’ documentation of this chance meeting is quite special. They’ve taken the feather-light tremolo guitars and precise, heavy-hitting percussion beloved of more dramatically-inclined bands and then weighted them with a steady stream of pop nuances. It's a transition made all the more seamless by Stephen Brett’s skill at manipulating his vocals to complement, but never interfere with, the core of the songs.

This means that cuts like Owning My Condition and its angelic background harmonies manage to veer away from clichédom and into the heart, while Heligan strips the vocals back to bare bones and concentrates instead of building upon layers of intricately intertwining melodies to compensate for the loss. Switching emphasis between voice and guitar can often be an unsteady path to walk but Shake The Darkness maintains the balance with grace and poise.