Angelo De Augustine: Swim Inside the Moon – lo-fi homage to Nick Drake and Elliott Smith

Swim Inside the Moon
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Artist: Angelo De Augustine
Genre: Singer / Songwriter
Label: Asthmatic Kitty

A lo-fi acoustic album that was recorded in a bathroom by a young twentysomething with a penchant for despondency? It would be more surprising if Angelo De Augustine's second album wasn't released on Sufjan Stevens's label. As it happens, there's much to like about the 24-year-old Californian's work, despite his suspected idolatry of artists like Nick Drake and Elliott Smith. These softly sung and simplistic songs have a rough-hewn allure, with subtle piano lurking betwixt his murmurs on Crazy, Stoned and Gone, and On My Way Home injecting some much-needed pace into a flagging tracklist. His subdued falsetto and flutter of folky guitar is charming, but the half-sketched nature of some songs would undoubtedly benefit from a little refinement or a full band. Perhaps that's yet to come.

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Lauren Murphy

Lauren Murphy

Lauren Murphy is a freelance journalist and broadcaster. She writes about music and the arts for The Irish Times