Hot Press

‘The Dead-Beat’ and ‘The Coming Of Complete Night’ dazzle, in particular thanks to Kevin’s storytelling skills. Best of all is ‘Bow The Lyre’, which blends ’60s flower-power organ with bleeding edge beats

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Head Stuff

Things get really dark on album highlight ‘Bow The Lyre’, which merges drum machines with psych-rock guitar freakouts. It sounds like The Stooges gone industrial, with the intensity doubling at the song’s midway point. 

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Pure M Magazine

 "His talent is wonderfully celebrated throughout and his contribution to Irish music can already be felt as he emerges as a bright and exciting prospect. Unique and bold, Nolan is not afraid to be different and this translates into his music as his debut is like something that has definitely not been heard before."

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The Last Mixed Tape

"Fredrick & The Golden Dawn is a bold début release of immense character containing a large-scale undeniable theatricality to it that is simply stunning to behold."

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 Remy's Music & Film Blog

"Nolan rides a shooting star into the night sky with full orchestral grandeur. On 'The Guess' you feel as if you are listening to two completely different vocalists, if you were unaware that he was a solo artist you would struggle with the knowledge that the vocal range belonged to one person."

 

The Golden Plec

"Nolan is also a multi-instrumentalist in the true sense of the word, incorporating everything from guitar and piano to orchestral sweeps with strings and flutes. But this is done through a subtle interplay and alternation rather than letting everything all fall in at once for a big, insurmountable wall of sound. This subtlety and restraint creates something far more elegant, and it is this elegance that provides a neat contrast to the often harsh, brutal and unsettling atmosphere that pervades the lyrics."

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 The Musical Melting Pot

"When I watched Thomas Truax and Bob Log III turn the Boileroom inside out, I remember trying to think of a third artist who could fit perfectly – seamlessly, even – alongside said masters of sheer weirdness. As of now, I have found that third artist – and his name is Kevin Nolan."

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 Tony Clayton-Lea, The Irish Times

"There’s no doubting Nolan’s ambition as he mixes gruff and declamatory Tom Waits/Nick Cave with softer instrumental interludes and a strain of theatrical musicality along the lines of Brecht/Weill/Lenya, as well as a rather odd but beautiful duet (Aubade) with Irish avant-pop singer Julie Feeney. (...) Impressive."

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 Rauschemusik

"here on the planet Tom Waits, in the vastness of the galaxy David Lynch or rather the black hole Nick Cave?"| 

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Sound and Books

"Fredrick & The Golden Dawn is Kevin Nolan a remarkable, demanding and sophisticated debut album succeeded."

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Rob Moro

"The tracks are delicate and psychedelic.  ‘The Guess’ is testament to the delicate nature of some tracks on the record. Lyrically, It is poetry for the dark side of the moon."

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Hot Press Magazine

"Nolan has carved out a world of strange characters and stunning sonic tapestries (...) 'Last Days Of Harry Carey' is a bombastic four minutes of blood and thunder that's worth the price of admission alone. The record takes the listener on a walk on the weird side, telling some diabolically good tales of love and death, spell-binding stuff. "

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No More Workhorse

 "It’s quite novel for an Irish artist not to follow the traditional singer song writers route, and the diversity in this collection of songs is what sets it apart. There’s a feeling of insecurity from one song to the next, that you’re never quite sure where they will go, or how they will develop."

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The Irish Times 

The Way I Feel for You Tonight stands out from the pack, its electric guitar and vibrant pop beat evoking Beck,

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TN2 Trinity Magazine 

It is an exploration of style, but one which is eternally marked by Nolan’s haunting vocals and the steady heartbeat underpinning the majority of the album. It’s an album which is difficult to forget, but also one that would be eagerly returned to.

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Hot Press 

It all makes for a compelling portrait of one of the country’s most fascinating artists

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The Thin Air 

Offered up as a “return to a past self”, stream the album below. Truth be told, you’ll likely struggle to find a more mottled, intriguing solo compilation by an Irish artist this year.

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