Mick Flannery - Mick Flannery (2019) Hi-Res

Mick Flannery (born 28 November 1983) is an Irish singer and songwriter. It’s been 12 years since Mick Flannery released his debut album Evening Train, although it feels like the Blarney native has been a fixture on the scene for much longer.

Even back in 2007, it was clear that the songwriter had a way with lyrics, an understanding of melody, a clutch of influences (Mitchell, Cohen, Waits and all the greats) to be reckoned with, and a gruffly charming voice to round it all off. He even had an “angle” that the music press immediately pounced on: his former career of stonemasonry lending itself to a multitude of “finely crafted” and “slowly chipping away” analogies amidst reports of his shyness and endearing awkwardness when put in front of an audience.

A record deal with EMI gave his name a boost in the late noughties and led to several number one albums in Ireland; he has become what you might call a “sure thing” when it comes to solid sales figures, each release a reliable clutch of well-written songs that run the gamut from broody to brisk. Yet “reliable” is also majorly underselling Flannery’s talent, as his sixth album emphatically proves.