Tonight in Seattle:  

Michael J. Sheehy And The Hired Mourners

Michael J. Sheehy And The Hired Mourners — With These Hands: The Rise And Fall Of Francis Delaney

Perhaps the most underrated artist on the globe, Michael J. Sheehy, who fronted the stellar (and criminally unknown) London band, Dream City Film Club in the 1990s, has emerged with a brilliant new album that is a song cycle about a boxer named Francis Delaney. The record explores his rise to prominence and details a sad downfall in which the fighter ends up with brain damage known as dementia pugilistica. In the course of fourteen tracks, Sheehy tells the tale through the eyes of several characters, each of whom add their own perspective to the narrative. Musically and lyrically, the album is a compendium of his solo career as several previous songs are alluded to throughout. In typical form, the record is both beautiful and profane, traits of Sheehy’s that make him so unique.

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