Linden
Rest and Be Thankful
Release Date: Jun 23, 2015
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Alternative Singer/Songwriter
Record label: Slumberland
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Album Review: Rest and Be Thankful by Linden
Excellent, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Rest and Be Thankful, Joe McAlinden's second solo LP under the name Linden, is a delight of appealingly age-worn sunshine guitar pop. The Scottish singer/songwriter cut his teeth in the '80s and '90s with a number of different well-regarded indie pop outfits like the Boy Hairdressers, the Groovy Little Numbers, and Superstar, before eventually settling down on the shores of Loch Fyne in the Western Highlands. He re-emerged in 2012 under the name Linden with Bleached Highlights, an excellent solo debut in keeping with his track record of melodic, '60s-indebted power pop.
Based on rating 4/5
Linden’s Joe McAlinden formerly fronted 90s Creation signings Superstar, purveyors of Big Star-influenced, sunshine-drenched guitar pop. They weren’t as successful as Scottish labelmates Teenage Fanclub, although they did earn the unlikely honour of Rod Stewart covering one of their songs. These days, McAlinden runs a “small, characterful” restaurant on the shores of Loch Fyne, which serves up the delights of “new garlic and pheasant’s egg”, but he clearly still allows time for melodic sunshine.
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