Fionn Regan - End of History (Bella Union)
4/5
By: Kevin Molloy
'End of History' is an exciting moment for an ardent, not-so-closet folkie like yours truly. It's one of the rare moments that your faith is not just restored (something that Karine Polwart or Kathryn Williams, for instance, managed successfully last year), but positively bolstered, and permanently expanded. It's the moment a rich history is brought to life by its absolutely contemporary and vital reincarnation.
That Fionn Regan hails from such a tradition is as defunct a statement as telling you he hails from Dublin (although the two are arguably intertwined). But it is a necessary one. When you come to sit in your listening chair, with the sleeve to your newly purchased copy of 'End of History' on your lap [which you obviously will have bought - this is a hint to the conclusion of this review], the bowling-over isn't going to come in the form of genre acrobatics. Sure, you could argue with me calling him a folkie, but he's a troubadour through and through, and as such what you're looking for here isn't the musically unprecedented. It's in the tales, in the storytelling, the songsmithery, the way only the very best of albums really communicate something to the listener. This tenner won't buy you something to dance to, and the gratification isn't instant: Regan is literary in his approach, and you'll get back from this album double what you put in in quality listening time.
You'll also get mightily confused, Regan's got more than his fair share of poetic pretension, and almost in the same vein as his fellow Dubliner, Joyce, his train of thought isn't travelling on the straightest of tracks. The detours are what provide the charm though, and make this an album to come back to and 'discover' fresh new words every listen.
Whilst the album is simply generally gorgeous, there are glimpses of sheer genius. 'Underwood Typewriter' is perhaps the most beautiful fingerpicked melody we've ever heard, melded seamlessly into the (some might say) explicit 'you'll step out of your dress, and I'll wear you like a hood'. Don't ask us how he still manages to sound fragile as he sings it, we'd love to know ourselves. But it's 'Put a Penny In the Slot' that really steals the show. Perhaps it's the conscious effort that seems to have gone into making the lyrics a bit more comprehensible. Or maybe it's starting with an apology for having got home 'with items in my bag from your house'. Or that gorgeous rising melody to the one-line chorus. Or those harmonies that come angelically out of nowhere to sing the epiphany that "she will not be your lover".
'End of History', then, is a must-buy for any of you with the slightest leanings to the songwriter end of the spectrum. Despite Regan's confidence this album is unassuming, and could easily pass below the mainstream's radar... which makes it your duty to see yourself to your nearest (or cheapest) record store, and to invest in this timeless piece of songwriting.
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