Fionn Regan : End Of History

The All Music Guide rating for this album on a 1-9 scale (9=best) is: 6

The All Music Guide rating for this album among this artist's works on a 1-9 scale (9=best) is: 7

  Anna Phoebe - Violin
  Fionn Regan - Banjo, Guitar, Piano, Drums, Tambourine, Vocals, Vocals (Background), Saw, Bowed Instrument
  Jamie Morrison - Drums
  Karl Odlum - Bass
  Laura Murphy - Vocals (Background)
  Louis Vause - Piano

The debut album by Irish-born, British-based singer/songwriter Fionn Regan was first released in the U.K. by ex- Cocteau Twins bassist Simon Raymonde 's dream pop imprint Bella Union , before being picked up for U.S. distribution by the rootsy alt-country label Lost Highway . Impressively, it's a good fit for both labels. Regan keeps one foot in the singer/songwriter tradition -- comparisons to Damien Rice and Nick Drake are ubiquitous in his reviews, and for good reason -- but Regan 's interest in specific soundscapes for their emotional resonances is a subtle but important philosophical link to the Cocteau Twins ' sound for sounds' sake aesthetic. Regan recorded the majority of The End of History in a disused stone barn, live to a portable recorder. The natural reverb adds warmth to these often skeletal songs, most with little more accompaniment than Regan 's acoustic guitar and practically whispered vocals. The sense of intimacy thus engendered adds weight to songs that might have otherwise seemed ethereally light, but at his best, Regan proves himself an immensely skilled songwriter. 'I have become an aerial view of a coastal town that you once knew' is a startlingly apt image in the lovely lost-love lament 'Be Good or Be Gone,' and Regan 's debut single 'Put a Penny in the Slot' is an instant classic ranking with such wry slices of U.K. folk-rock as Lloyd Cole and the Commotions ' 'Perfect Skin' (right down to Regan 's echoing of Cole 's trademark habit of dropping authors' names in his lyrics, Paul Auster and Saul Bellow in this case) and any number of Richard Thompson 's romantic character studies. The End of History suggests that a major talent may be brewing here. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide

'The End Of History' is the debut album for Irish singer-songwriter Fionn Regan - and what a debut it is. Over twelve tracks Regan weaves an almost hypnotic mood of pessimism, forlornness and just a tinge of light and hope. It's certainly not the most positive, uplifting or cheerful album in recent memory, but it is one of the most heartbreakingly honest and beautiful. 'At night time I'd live in Beckenham Park/With tears like flashbulbs/And recall my treasure searching days in the rock-pools as a kid,' he sings in Put A Penny In The Slot, strumming his guitar softly, backed by only the most minimal instrumentation through the song's bridge. This is the case right throughout the album, as Regan's voice takes the lead, with the odd violin, backing vocal or patter of drums creeping in and out of the songs in a way that seems almost organic. Regan's roots are clearly in folk, but his ability to twist pop melody into his songs without it losing any of its emotional impact, or sounding trite, is impressive. Even the album's nadir, Hey Spider, in which Regan's lyrics take a slight turn for the pedestrian in an animal referencing three-and-a-half minutes, is still affecting and listenable. Snowy Atlas Mountains is where Regan really finds his style, though - a winding tale that shows his ability for storytelling and phrasing, doing so with a haunting and eerily tangible sense of threat in his Irish accent. 'The End Of History' is an enormously confident and assured debut and with good reason; Regan is an immense talent and this album suggests that there's plenty more to come from him in the future. And if 'The End Of History' is any guide, that sounds like a very welcome prospect. -Alistair Wallis