But let’s not forget what this album means for this Waterford singer-songwriter Mark Duggan. As he enters a defining new chapter with the announcement of his debut full-length album, Hold That Ghost Down, its title track of the same name is about defining himself for his own sound, his own stories. While an impressive pantheon of musical influences seems to have their magic swirling in the Mark Duggan atmosphere, the body and the grounded feeling of each individual track is solely grounded in its most authentically present realities and experiences unique to Mark.

That authenticity and presence is potent and evident on tracks like “Drift Away.” Mark’s voice carries an endearing closeness through tenderly picked guitar, a harmonica that almost sounds like it too is tearing up in its recounting of an old childhood dream. Mark Duggan’s lyrics are one of the dynamics that showcase an endearing contrast here; his debut full-length record, but with the wisdom of a storied and long-experienced sage:

“Ain’t so easy feeling a stranger in your own skin
Letting all the wrong voices have the loudest say
When it comes to living some people just burn up out there
And others
Others just drift away”

On tracks like “Place to Disappear” and “Something Better Happen,” he reiterates your instinct to trust his narrative nature as a musician and lyricist. The performances and storytelling across each song are just as much independent stories themselves as much as they are interwoven pieces of the perspective you’ve started to gain from songs like “Drift Away” or the other leading singles like “Don’t Know Why.”

Whether the strings are attached to the heart or the folk instruments on the album, they’ve been made to sing in a heartening spirit in the company of Duggan’s stories, bittersweet memories, and contemplations on isolation and the complicated process of moving forward.

Most themes explored in this record are terrifying to grapple with alone. Hold That Ghost Down feels like a friend you don’t have to talk with just to be near, to have someone who knows how to hold their peace while holding your worries. It’s like Mark Duggan faced a lot of the colder and more pensive struggles to write an album that stokes the fire to warm you through your own winters. It’s worth mentioning that Mark Duggan’s work feels like the lights were left on for you when you got home after a long day.

Lightly electronic textures, folk vocals that sound like they’re from your favorite music memory, and classic songwriting instincts are what set Mark Duggan’s Hold That Ghost Down apart as a substantive and organic contemporary edge. If this is just the beginning, we’d only be so lucky to continue to hear what’s in store for Mark Duggan following this record release.