Album review: Eugene McGuiness’ The Invitation to the Voyage

There’s something utterly — if ineffably — British about Eugene McGuinness’s songs and perhaps that comes from his belief that “a bit of ruthless optimism is what it’s all about”.

This sentiment seems to power this third album — a cocksure, jaunty blend of art-rock strut and rockabilly jangle. He’s a nimble lyricist and a cheerfully wordy raconteur of contemporary nightlife, mixing bathos and sentimentality on songs such as Sugarplum, which urges his sweetheart to heedless, happy drunkenness tonight, “for tomorrow we will rush and crush on the underground”.

There’s a similar message, and even more clout, to the irrepressible Videogame.