Pseudonyms have played their part in music history. Take David Bowie who used the likes of Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke to experiment with different genres. Or, more recently, Eminem and his Slim Shady persona.

And so it came to pass that Mark Charles Heidinger, erstwhile lead singer with The Apparitions, an earnest indie-rock band if there ever was one, adopted an old family name to liberate him from his past. Reinvented as a folk revivalist, Heidinger offers dark delights on this, his debut solo album. Especially so on the chronicle of a death foretold, ´Marianne, you´ve done it now…´, sample lyrics “Marianne, who cut you down to size? Who slashed your throat, plucked out your pretty eyes?”

It´s a change of direction which has won him support slots with the likes of Vashti Bunyan, Smog, Alejandro Escovedo, and Joan As Police Woman. Along with sustained comparisions to Donovan and Dylan. Now that´s what you call myth-making.
(4¼/5)