Accompanied by a howl of distortion and a wall of echo, Nick Robin begins his first solo record in stunning fashion; the start of a downbeat journey for this talented singer/songwriter. Yet these noises sound alien compared to the rest of the record which is predominantly Robin and his guitar plus a little outside help from other musicians. 'Back From The Dead' treads the line between slowcore and folk rock with those occasional experiments providing the most exciting moments, ably demonstrated again on 'Wellsbury Hotel' and 'Bordertown' where the vocals resonate in more ways than one. There's also a decent attempt at Bowie stylings on 'White Horse, Black Tie'. So it's a solid acoustic album, then, but also one which cannily references the modern age.