Review Summary: Perhaps there is a happy ending after all.
Iwan Rheon has been one busy guy. The Welsh actor had been skirting the edges of stardom for much of the 21st century until landing gigs on TV shows like
The Misfits and
Game of Thrones. As the 2010s dawned, Rheon revealed his alternate profession……music. His acting talent is matched by his knack for crafting impassioned folk acoustic songs. With three years came three EPs, and now 2015 has finally brought Rheon’s debut full length record,
Dinard, in all its honest, passionate, and invigorated glory.
Dinard, for the most part, builds up the strengths of past releases. Rheon retains plenty of talent when it’s just him and his guitar. His playing doesn’t lack skill or variety, and his voice has a remarkable sense of relatability to it. He sounds stable and precise when needed, yet at the same time knows when to sound vulnerable and imperfect in the right ways. He can pull off the focused recording artist and the guy next door with a guitar in equal measure. While many tracks remain stripped down, there is exploration to be found. Continuing in the same vein as his last EP,
Bang Bang, Rheon brought in a full band to add percussion and layered instrumentation. The percussion on the title track in particular adds a lot of drive to the chorus, making for an energetic listen. Twangy electric guitar passages make appearances that effectively color up the tracks they appear on. While the rest of the album makes do with just Rheon’s unaltered and untouched vocals, “Diaries” adds some faint chanting that really builds up the chorus. “Tongue Tied”, the title track of his first EP, has been retouched with a full band performance and sorrowful violin passages that make it another highlight. Piano even appears on a pair of tracks, just to further prove that Rheon doesn’t fear thinking outside the box.
While his instrumental prowess is stellar, there’s something else important in this sort of music: the lyrics. Luckily, Rheon is no slouch in that department. He proves to be a strong writer, but in hindsight the most effective aspect of it is that he sings them in the right ways. He could have true, engrossing poetry on his hands, but without a relatable and passionate vocal performance they could mean nothing. Rheon doesn’t fall victim to this trap. His voice is honest and homely in a way, and all his lyrics strike at the heart of the matter. Now
Dinard isn’t quite perfect, but only falls prey to a few flaws. The greatest of these isn’t even a failure from the music itself, but within the mixing and mastering process. “Top Of The Road” opens with a gorgeous piano passage, but when the song explodes into the next section an irksome buzzing damages the moment. The problem suspiciously persists on cue throughout the track, detracting from what would have been one of Rheon’s best songs. The other issue lies on “Rhodd” in which Rheon plays with some vocal layering and trade offs that simply sound a bit awkward. In any case, they aren’t terribly overpowering and the song remains a pleasant experience.
In the end,
Dinard is an absolute gem for anyone that can find it. Iwan Rheon remains a bit of an undiscovered star in terms of his music, but here’s to hoping this record can catch some new ears. While his counterpart on
Game of Thrones, Ramsay Snow, once said “If you think this has a happy ending…..you haven’t been paying attention”,
Dinard is giving hints that there may be one for Iwan Rheon.
