Album: Cian Ducrot - Little Dreaming

Cian Ducrot cut his teeth on a blend of intimate singer-songwriter balladry and lowkey alt-pop, most of his debut album Victory sounding like a less personable Lewis Capaldi. 

There’s a modernity to Ducrot’s sound, though. The palette is spotless, bordering on the sterile, his solid vocal performances the key, and perhaps only, selling point of his music. New album Little Dreaming takes this to the extreme: opener “It’s Cian Bitch” is half bastardised turn of the millennium French disco-house, half Fleetwood Mac pastiche, all wrapped up in a lifeless bow. 

Little Dreaming is confused. It’s an artist in the tricky second album cycle that doesn’t know where he fits, or where he wants to fit. He’s drawing influence from the likes of Elton John and Queen, and even Harry Styles, but he’s really doing nothing new or creative with it all. “What About Love” is straight from the early-2010s playbook, “The Book Of Love” edging into Hillsong Worship-ish gospel-pop territory. Which isn’t inherently the worst thing, but especially given the puzzling opener on this album, it feels massively out of place. 

Ducrot does manage to shine on gentle moments like “My Best Friend” and “God Only Knows”, which are both vocally strong and seem the most authentic to him. But even these finer cuts struggle to stand out amidst the identity crisis Little Dreaming faces. He’s an artist with the capability to deliver solid pop tracks, as seen with the viral “I’ll Be Waiting” from his previous album. But Little Dreaming falls short.  In a heavily saturated genre, it takes an awful lot to cut through the noise, and Ducrot’s second album won’t be doing much to propel him further.

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@jameswmellen

Listen to "Little Dreaming"