Anto Morra
Album: Never Had To Shout
Label: Amma
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.antomorra.com

You'll understand the uncertainty with which I pressed play when I tell you the press release accompanying Mr Morra's debut makes no bones about declaring his songwriting second cousin is none other than Stephen Patrick Morrissey. You'll also understand how that might prick the reviewer's interest. The dilemma must be - how do you manage the expectation the connection will inevitably entail?

Of course, nobody writes like Morrissey - not even his second cousin. Then again, not many write like Anto Morra either, not even his second cousin.

The thing is, the family link got me into the album and once it's playing, well, it's not hassle to let it play.

From the outset Morra explains exactly who he is - a middle aged bloke of London Irish descent who had a great childhood, wasted a chunk of his early adulthood before he joined a band and now just loves writing songs and singing them. He's got a thing about folk music, but it's folk music informed by a love of The Clash - people's songs with a rebel yell and plenty of major chords.

He tells us about his life, beautifully articulated on the unaccompanied opener, Ballad of Anto Morra, and imagines the occasional fantasy, as on the ballad that gives the album its title. He delves into Anglo-Irish politics (Shamrock and the Rose) and recruits fiddle player Mike Naldrett to augment Tale of the Sligo Widow and Gypsy Smile.

Morra is a regular at the English Folk Song and Dance Society's Cecil Sharp House and obviously knows his stuff. He can turn a decent tune, has a voice worth listening to and a plentiful way with words … maybe there is something in the genes after all.

Nick Churchill
www.thegranvillechambers.co.uk