The problem with Irish singer-songwriters today is that many of them seem to have a vocabulary of about fifty words (four of them being 'my', 'girlfriend's', 'left' and 'me'). Tadhg Cooke is, thankfully, a little bit different. The young Meathman's soft, dreamy compositions are driven by lyrics that are consistently arresting and thought-provoking. And instead of being yet another dreary exercise in introspection, Wax and Seal is a vibrant album with a poetic sensibility and a keen eye for life's absurdities. Musically, Cooke's sound is dreamy and acoustic, and while this works well enough on most tracks, the production could certainly have done with a bit more oomph at times. That said, there's more than enough fine songs on this impressive debut to suggest that he's got a big future ahead of him.

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