The Guardian – 5th April 2012

You can mark out the emotional territory occupied by Crybaby by listening to the song from which Danny Coughlan took the name for this terrific album. Cry Baby by Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters is one of those overwrought early-60s ballads in which romantic disappointment is a world unto itself, and so it is with Crybaby. Coughlan’s rich, brooding baritone and eye for everyday detail – “We trace her steps across linoleum in kitten heels,” he sings on When the Lights Go Out – bring Morrissey into the mix, and musically, too, the debt to the Smiths is inescapable: this is kitchen-sink romance for guitar, bass and drums. Coughlan’s refusal to overembellish is key to Crybaby’s success – the odd addition of timpani or flute is well judged, adding colour to these miniature epics, when they could easily be swamped by orchestration. Intimate but grand, Crybaby is a triumph. – Michael Hann