Ducking Punches, aka Dan Allen, hasn’t been doing the solo, acoustic folk thing that long, entering a saturated scene the way of most of us do- via the medium of the ‘band-finishes-I want-to-carry-on’ route. From the relatively little I know about the background of this, his first record, it came about not too long after his first shows. So what we have is a stark, simplified and downbeat record. His voice is more than a little bit distinctive and that is mostly what these 10 tracks work with.
I saw Ducking Punches open up a show I was playing in Manchester just a few months ago and the terror on his face was fairly evident. Since then, our paths have crossed a few times and the set has progressed to one of self-assurance and Dan is a very talented guy. This record displays self assurance too, sitting it nicely in the bracket of the current crop of bearded roadsters (insert your local Lemuria enthusiast here). He’s got some damn fine choruses too (‘Secrets’ being the best tune on offer).
You feel like there is more to come from Ducking Punches – layered songs and experimentation maybe to come in the future. Right now, this is a fine, if rough round the edges, piece – free to download if you want it and better than most of the acoustic stuff on offer either side of the Atlantic right now. There is more feeling on here than most of us can muster.
Mike