The second album by Irish singer/songwriter Myles O'Reilly under the project name
Juno Falls,
Weightless is as appealingly airy as its title implies. Although comparable on a superficial level to folky-poppy compatriots like
Fionn Regan,
KT Tunstall, and
Laura Marling,
Juno Falls also bears favorable comparison to older acts like
Prefab Sprout and
Crowded House and equally smart, canny contemporaries like
Michael Penn and
Ben Lee. The sophisticated arrangements by O'Reilly and keyboardist/producer Ken McHugh add some old-fashioned pop grace to knotty acoustic songs that might seem a bit more rough-edged without the subtly deployed gloss. O'Reilly is a gifted songwriter who kicks the album off with the winning "This Song Is Your Own," an extremely catchy tune with genuine pop hit potential. While little of the rest of the album is that immediately arresting,
Weightless is a meaty, melodically substantial, and lyrically acute record that belies the winsome wispiness of O'Reilly's high, dreamy vocal style. Anyone who can write a heartbreaking acoustic ballad with a title like "The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off" without it turning into an exercise in emo self-abasement is clearly a talent to be watched. Unfortunately, just as
Weightless was released in the U.K.,
Juno Falls' label, V2 Records, underwent a complete restructuring, meaning this fine, likable, and potentially commercially successful record largely disappeared upon its release. ~ Stewart Mason