Self deprecating humour does seem to be prevalent at the folk end of the indie music spectrum. It's almost as if musicians feel the need to put themselves down with an inward directed joke before someone else does it with a pen. A philosophical approach is not unusual in the reviewing business of course but finding music that makes you feel philosophical is.
"A Sort of Album" is yet another minimum budget album that has sprung from the musical pond in Glasgow. There's a lot of it about but this time you can feel some magic for Adam Ross has decided to play it straight. There's no posturing, no angst, no woe is me now pass the Prozac. Instead there is a remarkably direct approach that makes the songs on this album resonate with "I Challenged Every Word" worthy of some sort of prize for understatement. You also can't deny the delicate charms of "But Not Each Other" or "Hymn One-Million-And-Twenty" either. No song forces itself upon you but they soon win you over.
Sure this album isn't exactly hi-fi, the production is a bit clumsy and Mr Ross's voice lets him down on more than one occasion but no one can deny that this is an album that feels real. There are some great musicians in Glasgow - and I think particularly of the likes of David Bova or Woodenbox now - and Adam Ross deserves to stand alongside them.