To call Mundy's second album overdue would be a bit of an understatement, seeing as it's all of six years since the Offaly man was launched by Sony as Ireland's answer to Bob Dylan. As Mundy himself now admits, he was far from ready for this kind of exposure - and the result was an underwhelming debut album, a high-profile record company split and a quick retreat back to obscurity. Now firmly committed to the independent route, Mundy is finally back in business with an album that goes some way to explaining what all the fuss was about in the first place. 24 Star Hotel is a lazy, hazy mixture of pastoral folk and uptempo pop, played with passion and with a healthy dose of hippie peace and love values well to the fore. Some will find it twee, but while it's far from being a sophisticated album, its best moments have an innocence and a purity of vision that makes it extremely difficult to dislike. Now, any chance of another one before 2008?
