WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

Tracklist: It’s Cian Bitch; Who’s Making You Feel It?; Little Dreaming; Unfair; What About Love?; Shalalala; Rock Bottom; Kiss And Tell; The Book Of Love; Hallelujah; Break My Heart; No Way To Live; God Only Knows; My Best Friend; Your Eyes; See It To Believe It

Authenticity is the key to Ducrot’s success and while we’ve enjoyed the radio friendliness of the singles released ahead of this 2nd album it’s the rawness of the emotion exposed within this long player that continues to fascinate us about his work.

• Read on for reasons including the part Hurts frontman Theo Hutchcraft played in creating this album

Sha La La was a song of the week for us this summer and we included videos of predecessors Who’s Making You Feel It? and this sophomore album’s title track in our review so we’re going to dive in to the album itself and pick out some of our favourite tracks.

Nowhere is Ducrot’s authenticity more in evidence than on song No Way To Live where he sings: ‘Cause your neighbour’s painted nails are not the reason for your shit life’.

Of this song Ducrot writes: ‘STOP BEING A DICK!! Stop judging people … taking offence to the way someone dresses or identifies! It’s not your problem or your life. It shouldn’t affect you so just live your life!’

It seems especially personal because during the title track of which he writes: ‘Big dreams start with some Little Dreaming‘ he sings: ‘I can wear my favorite pearls like all my favourite girls, if it looks good on them, I can make it work.’

Of Unfair Ducrot writes: ‘This song came as the album was already finished but I loved it so much I had to get it on. I wrote this song on a last minute trip to LA and it fell out in 5 minutes when I was remembering a time in a past relationship that I thought would be forever and then life just got in the way. Sometimes love doesn’t work and sometimes life’s just unfair.’

There’s a real maturity to the songwriting and the chorus of: ‘Too early, too young. We were so in love when I shouldn’t have loved anyone. We were too ambitious for 21. It’s so Unfair to love so hard at so young’ makes us feel that lessons have been learned to stand the singer in good stead for further trials.

Hurts frontman Theo Hutchcraft has 5 co-writing credits but bizarrely not Hallelujah which sounds most in thrall to that band.

If you’re seeing Oasis this summer you might like Book Of Love of which Ducrot writes: ‘I had a best friend I lived with for a while and she was the kindest soul I’ve ever known. I got to watch her be treated like shit by so many guys and it broke my heart and I just wanted to be there for her and give her a hug but I couldn’t always be there so I wrote this song and I hope it can be a hug to her any time and to you or anyone going through something similar x’ 

Sha La La was the song that made us so excited for this album and recent single Your Eyes treads similar ground in wanting to be a real community singalong yet also express something personal that may strike a chord with others.

If you found this album’s singles a little too produced or buffed with radio sheen, fear not because there’s much that’s jagged and nerve-jangling inside which just may well make you want you to seek out Ducrot on tour later this year at gigs including London 02 Brixton Academy gig in September.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Cian Ducrot Tickets
• Have you seen a Cian Ducrot show before and what do you think of this album? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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