Square Moon is a fairly quiet, fairly understated yet emotionally raw collection of paeans to lost time, lost love, sadness, loneliness, heartbreak, heartache, and unrequited obsession. MacManus pours so much of his heart out over the course of these two discs that it’s hard to believe there’s anything left in his cardiac jug. The pianos, acoustic guitars, elegant strings and other bits ‘n’ bobs are tinkled so delicately it’s as if they were recorded by candlelight with a concern for not waking the amiable neighbours. And then there’s the voice. Davey’s blissful, soulfully cracked and battered yearning croak makes Conor Oberst sound like that chump from Maroon 5.
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