Album Review: Michael J Sheehy - Distance is the Soul of Beauty

One of my favorite under appreciated artists of the recent years is Michael J Sheehy

Sheehy has recorded under various guises and names. His smoke and whiskey style conjures up images of musicians like Nick Cave and Tindersticks. Critics tend to focus on the latter part of ‘goth country’ and compare his voice to Chris Isaak and Howe Gelb.

I am well acquainted with two albums of his. My favorite is 2009’s With These Hands, a song cycle about a boxer named Delaney. Backed by the fabulously named Hired Mourners, the album really lets Sheehy embrace his strengths with a bit of Tom Waits eccentricities. Similarly, 01’s Ill Gotten Gains, more loose in theme, is a solid combination of late night melodrama and dramatic brooding.

As he’s been on a few labels, you will find his work streaming online but not in one place.

Distance is the Soul of Beauty released in October shows up from Covid- inspired creativity and there’s a bit of that melancholic mood throughout the album. If it was released a bit earlier, it would probably have wound up on my Year End best of.

It’s not an “immediate” album, though. It’s an album for late nights and introspection. It’s a good showcase of Sheehy’s talents though. For me, it feels like this great ‘hidden find’, a feeling I felt over a decade ago when I first heard him.