MIKE O’NEILL plays the Horseshoe for CMF on March 20. See listing. Rating: NNNN
If only Mike O’Neill made more albums. The former Inbreds bassist started Wild Lines – his third solo album – in 2007 but put the project on hold while busy with other things. (He also records and composes for television.)
Wild Lines is a rarity – composed of unobtrusively good songs supported by deft arrangements in which instruments, backup vocals, snaps and claps are introduced at just the right moment before slipping out again. It’s a fleshed-out version of the Inbreds’ vision but more a celebration of British Invasion-style writing than a revisit to 90s power pop.
He gets backup from Super Friendz’s Charles Austin on guitar, Trailer Park Boys creator Mike Clattenburg on drums and Laura Peek on piano, but it’s O’Neill the producer who shines the most, expertly stitching the tracks together with recorded found sounds.
Top track: Don’t Forget To Breathe
