Album Review: Ben Ottewell - Rattlebag

You may well recognise the voice of Ottewell, who was one of the three singers in Gomez.

On Rattlebag he brings his raspy vocal and clever guitar work to the fore. There’s a dash of alt country on the acoustic Red Dress and slide guitar on the ambitious No Place. Highlights include Stone, which brilliantly projects his dark vocal against a pretty melody reminiscent of early REM. Ottewell matches his distinctive vocal with some nicely blurred atmospherics in the instrumentation department. Rattlebag will easily win him more fans with its high dose of melody and panache.