8/10

There are debut albums that showcase promise, and then there are debut albums that feel like a life quietly unfolding in front of you. Louis O’Hara’s 'A Peaceful Kind of Fun' belongs firmly in the latter category, offering a record steeped in recollection, tenderness, and the strange, weightless ache of looking back at the places that shaped you.

O’Hara writes with a sensitivity that feels almost timeless. His songs gather their strength from intimacy rather than volume. You hear it immediately in the nylon-string guitar lines, in the soft footprints of piano, and in the gentle interplay between him and His Burley Chassis, the band that brings colour and body to his words without ever crowding them. And under the guiding hand of producer James Trevascus, the album feels warm, spacious, and lived-in, like a sunlit room that still carries the scent of someone who left long ago.

What makes 'A Peaceful Kind of Fun' so affecting is how deeply rooted it is in personal geography. These songs feel built from rural lanes, seaside houses, and half-remembered conversations. 'Magpie', one of the album’s central moments, captures that balance between melancholy and wonder that threads through the entire project. Tracks like 'Sunnyhill Farm' and 'The Kid in Me' glow with the soft haze of childhood recollections, while 'Tears' and 'Finally Stick' venture into more fragile territory, exploring what happens when loss and gratitude coexist in the same breath.

O’Hara’s unforced and almost conversational voice anchors everything. There’s a Leonard Cohen-like economy in how he delivers a line, but the warmth, the pastoral sense of place, and the subtle humour, those are entirely his own.

In an age of relentless polish, 'A Peaceful Kind of Fun' stands out precisely because it refuses to shout. And in that quiet, it offers a debut of rare sincerity and even rarer charm; a record that feels like coming home to a version of yourself you’d forgotten.

Louis O’Hara has created something both delicate and enduring here. A collection that introduces you into his world. And once you enter it, you’ll want to stay awhile.