Review: ‘Hard Truth’ – Paul J Bolger

Paul J Bolger has been keeping himself busy since his 2020 self titled album and has released a collection of ten songs in tribute to his Uncle who Paul says was a great singer and sportsman and  a huge inspiration to him when he was a kid.

The record opens fittingly with ‘The Start Of It’, his voice is full of soul and has a unique tone to it whilst the song itself has a rock n roll element to it. Bolger has pushed the boundaries of his sound with this record, recorded in Ireland, he has used less musicians than his previous release yet expanded sonically.

There are a number of stand out tracks from the stripped back nature of the opening of ‘Hard Truth’ with Bolgers’ soft vocals accompanied by acoustic guitar and percussion to the rousing nature of ‘See Love Shine’ with it’s positivity and bright guitars bringing the track to life.

To summarise, it’s a really strong album from Bolger and beautiful tribute to his Uncle. The lyrics take you on a journey through the emotions and there is a good balance of upbeat and sombre tracks. I look forward to hearing more from Bolger.