Hello, everyone! It’s time for another individual album review! It’s the new Alan Doyle album, Welcome Home.

So, you know when you see the name of a musical artist online, and you know you’ve heard of the artist, but you don’t know why? And maybe you even know the artist is in a famous band, but you can’t think of which band?

Well, that happened to me recently. I was in the classroom at college, my class had just ended, and I realized I hadn’t decided what music I was going to listen to on my way home, so I started looking for new albums that had just come out, and I saw there was a new Alan Doyle album. I knew that name rung a bell, but I couldn’t place why. I was pretty sure he was in a famous band, but I wasn’t sure which band, and I wasn’t totally sure about that. I later found out he was a member of Great Big Sea, a band I’ve heard of quite a bit but haven’t listened to much at all.

Anyway, I decided to download this album, not really having super high expectations for it, but I thought I’d give it a shot. I mean, I didn’t have any reason to think this would be bad, but it was just a random album I came across when looking for new albums that had been released. There was nothing that made me feel like this would be all that good.

But then I went on the bus and listened to this album for the first time, and it reminded me of a few different bands, arguably most notably Spirit of the West, a band from BC, Canada who I used to listen to a lot as a kid. And even though Spirit of the West’s music isn’t totally my cup of tea nowadays (outside of Weights & Measures—that album is great!), this album still brought me a lot of feelings of nostalgia, and I also think I discovered it at the right time. I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I do, but I’m so glad I came across this album! If it weren’t for everything lining up perfectly I probably would have just ignored this, and I’m really happy that I didn’t!

So, what is it about this album that really clicked for me? Well, a lot of it is hard to explain, because again, I think some of it is when I discovered it. That’s not to say I’d necessarily like it any less had I discovered it at a different time—in fact, my guess is that I’d like it just as much—but does it ever feel like an album was made specifically for you at the exact right time?

Maybe none of this is making any sense, but back to the main point I was trying to make, I think my feelings on this album say a lot about me, not just about the album. And it’s kind of hard to explain why this clicked for me as much as it did. At least to some extent, that is.

This is the kind of album that often feels so sugary-sweet in a way that can be really obnoxious a lot of the time, but when the hooks are this strong and the production sounds this good, combined with the nostalgia that I mentioned … well, it makes for a pretty special album in my opinion!

So, where do I really begin here?

Well, first of all, I’m not really sure what genre(s) to use to describe this album. I kind of feel like it’s a country album—a lot of the instrumentation feels reminiscent of a lot of country music I’ve heard—but that doesn’t totally feel accurate. It’s definitely not the kind of music I’d expect to hear on a mainstream country radio station, that’s for sure. But at the same time, there’s a lot of indie country that I’d also never expect to hear on a mainstream country radio station, so that wouldn’t necessarily make this ‘not a country album,’ would it?

Also, I want to mention another comparison that might seem a little strange until you really think about it: early Barenaked Ladies. I mean, even modern Barenaked Ladies music might be a good comparison, too, even though I don’t like their newer stuff nearly as much as their older stuff. Although I’m especially reminded of their earlier albums like Born On a Pirate Ship and Maroon, and that’s a huge compliment!

Part of that Barenaked Ladies comparison is the instrumentation, with a lot of reminiscent strings, and the way the instruments sound when all put together also reminds me of that era of Barenaked Ladies. And it’s got a similar mood to it with some happy and sad moments, and in some of the more upbeat songs the sort of kookiness reminds me of some of the moments on those Barenaked Ladies albums. That’s not to say it’s quite the same, because it’s hard to compare—at the end of the day, there are a lot of differences—but I did find some of the similarities very noticeable.

For example, there’s “Dancing Like We Did Last Night”. Yeah, I could totally understand someone finding it really corny and insufferable … I mean, there’s a part of me that feels like I’ve heard pretty much this exact song many times before … but when the melodies are this strong and the song has this much of a feel-good energy to it, the corniness doesn’t bother me at all! And that’s something I can also say about some of Barenaked Ladies’ early material. For the most part I don’t think this album quite has the same creativity and personality of early Barenaked Ladies, but it’s more than made up for with so many great hooks and melodies, and much more which I’ll talk about soon!

And while we’re on the topic of some of the more fun moments on the album, I may as well mention “Long Night”, which was one of my early favourites on the album. I just love the carefree energy of this song, about enjoying the present moment and not worrying too much about the future, with those gorgeous strings just giving this such a glorious texture to fit with the pure bliss of this chorus, with the different instruments sounding totally locked in with each other, and those joyous vocal melodies. And the guitar timbres are excellent as well, helping this song with strong campfire vibes actually hit really hard in my opinion! And that’s saying a lot coming from me!

And I think it’s important not to always take all the lyrics with that energy totally literally here. I mean, the opening track “Yours and Mine” has the line, ‘Take the high road or the low.’ But I don’t interpret it as seriously being about not worrying about the consequences of your actions … I just take it to mean don’t be overly worried about that. And as such I think it really gives this track a lot of magic, especially with that gorgeous guitar timbre and so many subtle instrumental details!

And some of the more mellow, emotional moments really work, too! “You’ll Still Be with Me” is a mellow track which seems to show the narrator trying to move on from losing someone—maybe a breakup, or maybe someone has passed away—but either way, the narrator just accepts that it’s time to move on, while still not forgetting this person.

And there’s also “How Did We Get from Saying I Love You”, which might be the most downbeat song on the album. As far as I can tell, it’s simply just a song that shows two exes who are now just ‘talking about the weather’ and it’s never going to be the same again. But it doesn’t feel as much ‘sad’ as it does frustrated … and it seems like both of them agree it’s for the best, but that doesn’t make it any less difficult, at least not on the narrator, the only perspective we really see in the song.

And I can’t not mention the closing track, “All for a Song”, which has some of my favourite poetry on this album, with lots of great rhyming and excellent storytelling, which I think is about an adventure that may seem like it was all for nothing … but it could inspire a song. And it’s such a great way to end the album, as I’m pretty sure what this song really is is a celebration of music, and that’s so fitting for an album that I’d consider one of the very best albums I’ve heard from this year—in fact, as of right now this is my favourite album of the year.

And the more I write about this album, the more I realize how little it really gives me to say. Okay, maybe that’s not entirely true, but I was actually planning on posting this review probably about a month ago, but I wanted to really put in the effort to make it a long, detailed review. I mean, I’ve listened to the album about a dozen times, and I thought I’d be able to write a much more detailed review … and yeah, I could talk about so many of the subtle details in so many of these songs that make them so unbelievably great, and all the details in the production that I think sounds so amazing, and a bunch of my memories I’ve made with this album already, including one time I listened to it on one of the most memorable days of the year for me so far, which was one of the best and worst days of 2024 for me … I mean, it’s a long story, but let’s just say “Long Night” really hit hard that day. And part of me feels like I discovered this album at exactly the right time. It’s the kind of album that brought me feelings of nostalgia that I wasn’t expecting at all, but I’m so glad I gave it a chance!

But what I’m really saying is … well, it doesn’t have to be a super deep album for me to put it among my absolute favourites of the year. It doesn’t have to be doing anything revolutionary or super experimental. And while I would very much recommend this album, I honestly wouldn’t recommend setting your expectations too high, because I know for a lot of people this is going to be very forgettable. But for me, this is the emotional journey of an album that I didn’t know I needed! And it’s also so amazingly well produced, with the gorgeous acoustic guitar timbre, the drums that fit so well in pretty much every track, and such an amazing sound quality that helps the layered textures sound absolutely phenomenal! 

If I have to make any nitpicks … I mean, as much as I like “Dancing Like We Did Last Night”, I wish the vocals didn’t get buried in the mix in the chorus, and the title track could maybe use a bit of a stronger chorus …

But I want to end this review by talking about the title track. Because to me this song works way better in the context of the album, as it seems to be about trying new things and growing up … but still going back home and maybe feeling like a kid again, even if just for a short time. And I guess that might be why this album hits this hard for me, as it feels reminiscent of a lot of the music of my childhood, and the album kind of feels like a celebration of itself!

So, for me it’s a light 9.5/10, and while I think the odds you’ll love it as much as I do are very low, I still absolutely recommend you listen to it! This is some absolutely phenomenal stuff, with endless standout choruses, great vocals, great production … and again, it had that emotional resonance for me that it probably won’t for most people, but you never know.

Alright, so I know I haven’t been posting much recently—in fact, it’s been nearly three weeks since my last post—so, I just want to quickly give a bit of an update of what’s coming up soon. I’ve got a mini review post with ten mini reviews that’s in the final stages of editing, and it’ll probably be out sometime in the next few days, possibly later today. I’ve also started working on some more mini reviews for my next mini review post after that one, and I’m planning on doing an individual review for the new Kacey Musgraves album, because after giving it a couple of listens already I’m thinking I’ll have a lot more to say about it than I was expecting, and while I’m hoping to have that review out by next weekend, it’s going to take a lot of listens and I’ll probably have a lot to say about it, so it might end up getting delayed.

But for now, thank you so much for reading this review, and I’ll be back with more soon!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Yours and Mine”, “You’ll Still Be with Me”, “Hard Old Hands”, “Long Night”, “How Did We Get from Saying I Love You”, “Best I Never Had”, “All for a Song”
Least Favourite Track: “Welcome Home”