Neither Do I: We're Not Known For Anything (digital outlets)

What's in a name?

Quite a lot I would think.

No band named something like Big Fat Possum, Up at Sparrow Fart or Drunken Uncle at a Wedding is making a serious pitch for wide attention.

A band name can be an identifier of a sound also, or at least give a clue that it's metal and not gentle folk.

Which brings us to this album and artist.

With an album title deliberately downplaying expectation and a performance name which suggests ambivalence or diffidence, Auckland singer-songwriter Danny Ebdale – three previous albums and a series of singles as Hospital Sports since 2015 -- doesn't exactly make a strenuous bid for attention.

And that's a pity.

Because where the Hospital Sports trio – Ebdale with various players over the years – erred into emo folk-pop territory, as Neither Do I the admirably tenacious Ebdale heads into more mainstream, melodic jangle pop (Ghost Machine), Chills-like atmospheres (Running in Clay) and aggressively distorted art-pop (Fresh New Hell with a snapping spoken word narrative which isn't without black humour).

Ebdale sounds bedevilled by life's misfortunes (Go Away), relationships (the title track) and personal issues (the surging energy of Recollection).

But often enough he writes lyrically refined angst in poetic imagery while pulling everything into a more positive space through upbeat songs (Cover Your Tracks which also has some of Martin Phillipps' emotional tension).

Ebdale has built an interesting body of work, largely out of earshot of a wider audience. But – as someone with a few touchstones in the Flying Nun ethos and some of Britain's observant Northern singer-songwriters – he's also conspicuously on his own course.

Danny Ebdale is someone worth hearing and this album with numerous musicians (cello, violin, clarinet and vocals) is an assured step towards the greater attention he deserves.

The nom de disque and album title notwithstanding.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here