Colin O’Shea is a Dublin, Ireland-based singer songwriter who has just come to my attention thanks to his second album release. Three years in the making, it’s delightfully called Bright Yellow Shiny Gold.

By Graeme Smith

With a title like that, you’d be right to expect something feelgood, and you get it in abundance across the album’s ten tracks. Bright Yellow Shiny Gold opens with Pablo. Delicate electronic layers are gradually poured on building to a percussive groove. Colin’s vocals join in, smooth and charismatic, and channelling a style that wouldn’t be out of place in the ’80s and ’90s. It’s a sound that will definitely appeal to lovers of the classic, but there’s something fresh about it all too. It’s a great start.

Gold is warmly romantic. It opens intimately before developing into an expansive and uplifting arrangement. Hollywood On Fire delves deeper into the ’80s and comes up with a bouncy, sultry, nostalgic highlight. Amazing slows things down but its lyrical message remains positive, delivered by passionate vocals. Pure Love rounds off the album’s first half with a simmering, poetic masterpiece.

Those Days is a vibrant, folky introduction to the album’s second half, which has a darker tone. After All keeps things downbeat, and smoulders with heartbreak and defiance. The Man Who Forgot To Cry is an acoustic moment that’s powerful in its use of minimalism. It builds to a chanting, heart-rendering climax. The Greatest Love is a surprise detour into electronic blues before Lover’s Street closes the album with a gentle, reflective goodbye.

If you’re looking for a little romance today, then you need look no further than Bright Yellow Shiny Gold. Colin O’Shea delivers it in spades, but never crosses the line into corny. It’s pure, authentic emotion to which all of us can relate, set against a backdrop of some wonderfully constructed pop arrangements.

You can check out Bright Yellow Shiny Gold below.