CRAIG SHERIDAN – RED ON MAROON ALBUM REVIEW

First came Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde”. Then three decades later came Texas’ “White on Blonde”. Now, 14 years after that, we’ve got “Red on Maroon” from Deal’s Craig Sheridan.

His album is a soft rock, MOR affair: like Oasis and The Verve formed a super group and took an enormous chill pill. And it’s an entirely personal album borne out of the singer/songwriter’s own tragedies and internal turmoil.

“Red on Maroon” is filled with a sense of grief, despair and depression. There’s plenty of references to “memories of you taken away” (“One Track Road”) or “memories of times inside my head” (“Black Rane”) and “demons within always bringing me down, down, down” (“Aurora”).

On the flip side, there’s much talk of a recovery: a sense of salvation: “Sun breaks through starting new/danger’s past – no more tears” runs one couplet on “Shadows”.

At times, these two worlds of grief and despair in one instance and freedom in the other collide. “One Track Mind” features lines about “broken chains set me free/without you here I can’t see”. There’s a couple of lyrics spread through the album on a similar theme, but never resolved.

Musically, the songs have their feet heavily on the distortion pedal throughout. There’s a clear nod of the head towards Noel Gallagher; “Times Change” could easily come from “Wonderwall” era Oasis. Meanwhile the influence of a chilled out Richard Ashcroft can be found on “Winter Sunn” (that’s Sheridan’s double “n”, not ours).

Elsewhere, the sounds refer back to Greg Lake and David Gilmour (“Aurora”) or 1980s era U2. The album ends with an instrumental, “Saskatoon Sunset”, featuring choral and piercing flute effects on a keyboard, which vague recalls “Laika’s Theme” by the Divine Comedy.

Craig Sheridan’s album is filled with wistfulness, with what ifs, maybes, memories and dreams. As you might expect, there are natural images aplenty, from “looking out across the plains” (“One Track Road”) to “Blankets of nature lining the streets of my town”(“Black Rane”).

“Red on Maroon” is wrapped up in everything that makes the human experience: happiness, deep sadness and all that lies between. If you ever thought the Gallaghers’ music would benefit from a bit more introspection, this might be the album for you.

Find out more about Craig Sheridan and his album on his website, www.craigsheridan.com.