As the voice of Absentee, Dan Michaelson has nurtured a small but committed cult following entranced by his gargling-gravel vocals and his propensity for dark, humorous lyrics and indulgent songmanship. Dan Michaelson & The Coastguards is a side-project of sorts that sees Michaelson bringing together an eclectic line-up of musician friends and exploring a different songwriting space entirely. The Results? Unstuffy and elegant pop music for the bitter and disillusioned.

Alongside a raft of musicians from the likes of Fields, The Magic Numbers, The Rumblestrips, The Broken Family Band and Ed Harcourt's touring band, Michaelson holed himself up in Hackney's The Premises studio to make this album and set about looking at music from an entirely new perspective. With a subsequent plan to "think outside of Absentee", Michaelson intentionally dropped his guard across the breadth of these 10 crisp, lovelorn songs and what has resulted is a collection of intimate and honest songwriting that pegs Michaelson as a tunesmith in the mould of a certain Leonard Cohen. A heady claim maybe, but one that Michaelson backs-up repeatedly throughout this exceptional long-player.

Whether he's threading his chocolaty vocals through the tumbling keys and brass parps of the album's delicious opener 'Ease On In' or crafting an opus as with the album's central spine 'Crackling on the Floor', Michaelson is consistently intelligent in his narrative, managing to express loneliness, love and desperation in the soft growl of a couple of throwaway rhyming couplets.

So many side-projects collapse under the weight of experimentation or indulgence, but with 'Saltwater' Michaelson has done that rare and wonderful thing; exposed a brand new creative layer to his songwriting and out-shone his day job in the process. Wonderful stuff.

'Saltwater' is released on the 9th March through Memphis Industries.

Words: Tom Picklow
Official Site: www.myspace.com/danmichaelsonandthecoastguards