![\"\"](\"http:\/\/jonnyjaniero.wpengine.com\/thejoycollectivewp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/Album-cover.jpg\" "\\"Album")
<\/a>Who are they? <\/strong>South Walian Jon Airdrie has been mining folk seams for many years as a cog in Beyond The Bars, a producer to fellow travellers like Pamela Wyn Shannon and sporadically as a solo dude. The Shelleys are his many-headed backers, sometimes only given first names but all lending deft and unshowy touches from the background. ‘…And What…’ is their fifth album.<\/p>\nWhat’s it like? <\/strong>The first thing to hit novice ears is Airdrie’s voice: slow and viscous, it shares a little of Leonard Cohen’s weight, but has its own arched quality, ranging over these songs, rich like a fruity uncle. An acquired taste for some maybe, but there’s a lot of enjoyment to be had in the mix of playfulness and determined control. Musically it’s a fine stew with guitar or piano as the base. Opening track ’24 Hour Man Flu’ is a pretty good signpost: quiet meditations that stretch out in the chorus, female backing vocals creeping in further and lovelier each time around. A certain amount of gently ragged rock intrudes on a few songs – both ‘Checks And Balances’ and ‘Glass For You’ fuse meandering verses to nicely compact choruses – but on the whole extra instrumentation is added sparingly; some tinkling mandolin or desolate recorder on bleakly ace closer ‘Winter 1981-82’. Overall, it’s an album that creates a dense and enigmatic atmosphere, a little overripe and heavy on the\u00a0purple ink at times, but always shot through with genuine emotion and love of the knotty drama of life. A sweetly inclusive triumph, and plenty to get into your bones.<\/p>\n