Belfast’s Joby Fox has been at this game for over thirty years now, beginning with post-punk act the Bankrobbers, then onto some stadium-sized rock and blues with Energy Orchard. These days he’s busy with his own solo work, and End of the War is a record that I can tell he is pretty content and pleased to have delivered. And so he should.

This is the sound of someone experienced both in life and in music, and as a result this record is an unpretentious and wholesomely delivered set of instantly memorable rock-pop gems that seem to be set around two main themes– the power of love, and the futility of war (and as someone who grew up in Belfast during the ’70s this is something of particular poignancy to Joby). The almost timeless simplicity of ‘I Love You’, and the half weary, half hopeful ‘Insane Asylum’ are two that I especially enjoyed. Visit his page here.