Martin Livingstone's name rings a bell. So I did a bit of research and determined that he is the front man of West Lothian band Burnout. This must make "A Million Miles From Nowhere" his solo debut.
Like so many bands from West Lothian, Burnout were nurtured in a growbag fertilised with albums by Oasis and The Stone Roses. Those same influences are still noticeable - especially in "Save My Soul" - but Martin Livingstone is no longer stuck in the same rut and there are many signs that we have a writer of proper rock songs here. Big rock songs at that. Songs like "Too Much To Take" that take the Gallagher brothers on a walk through the west coast of America or the sixties' throwback "Stephanie's Castle" while "Sleeping With Angels", in a very commercial change of direction, is a pure X Factor type over-the-top ballad.
You know what I like best about these songs? They are sung with the voice of the common man. Unlike so many male songwriters, Martin Livingstone doesn't spin his wheels in the mud of angst ridden self obsession. I don't doubt that he writes what he feels - and about what he knows about - yet he does so a manner that convinces and that, my friends, is well over half the battle.
Whilst the album is let down a few times by the heavy handed production and awkward arrangements, it still remains the work of a songwriter with real potential.