There is a fine Americana undercurrent going through the mainly guitar-oriented new solo album from Snow Patrol’s guitarist Nathan Connolly.
It seems that the way Snow Patrol guitarist Nathan Connolly went on his latest solo outing ‘The Strange Order of Things’ was to include an Americana undertone throughout the album. Connolly remains firmly in the guitar-oriented rock music he does so well here, but the Americana feel is evident, particularly on tracks like ‘Fires,’ ‘Waves’ or ‘Love Like Wildfire. The musicianship and the melodic line of the songwriting are tight, something you can certainly expect from somebody involved in selling seventeen million albums so far.
The major part of the quality lies behind Connolly himself but includes featured guests like Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro, Irish artist Ailbhe Reddy, as well as long-time collaborators Dave and Herb Magee (LaFaro, Little Matador, Arvo Party), Stephen Leacock (General Fiasco) and Gavin Fox (Turn, Idlewild, Little Matador). Connolly describes the idea behind the album as “trying to understand, make sense and work through events that have led to who I am now: heartache, regret, emotional cost, fatherhood.” And this concept is something that often lies behind any quality album, no matter in which genre it fits.
