Davey Craddock draped his debut album in Americana sounds as he wove stories about places and people, primarily in Australia. It was a superb debut and its followup, One Punch, is equally compelling whilst coming from different angles.

One Punch steps back, and assesses the world with a brutal honesty. It takes stock of the current state of global politics and paints a songwriter’s perspective of the way external factors shape our personal experiences – our hopes and fears, anxiety and memories of sweeter times. To best convey the songs, Craddock has parked many of the Americana sounds and replaced them with darker and caustic guitars, turbulent rhythms, more keyboards and a greater vocal intensity and melancholic undercurrent.

‘Not In My Backyard (You Said)’ shifts between a melodic riff and violent six string squalls, as does ‘The Bomb, From Broome’. ‘2001’ is a moving textural ballad, suspended in a dreamy aether. It’s not all doom and gloom though. Musically and lyrically Craddock finds space for optimism and breezier-sounding songs such as ‘Holiday’, Fathers Day’ and the beautiful piano-led closer ‘The Old Guys’.

if you’re looking for influences there are shades of Nick Cave, You Am I and Jason Isbell woven into these impressive songs. Craddock has a wonderfully evocative and poetic way with his words and on One Punch he’s both widened and deepened his world of song.

Chris Familton