Album Review
Dan O’Farrell & The Difference Engine
The Fish That Learned To Drown
(Gare Du Nord Records)
Release date: 22nd January 2026
Dan O’Farrell and the Difference Engine’s 4th album and indisputably their best. Packed with great songs. Bold production, fabulous instrumentation and emotional lyrical journeys. Fans of Elbow, REM and the like will love the songcraft and melodic swells, says Ged Babey.
Have I got news for you. Post C86 veteran and sardonic songwriter O’Farrell discovers he can make a classic album that stands up against the Beatles Abbey Road and Lou Reeds Transformer whilst giving them little musical nods of appreciation. With the help of his trusty Engineers.
Oddly, it’s as if, after ten years, hundreds of gigs, three albums and dozens of songs, Dan has got the knack of the catchy, repeated phrase as ‘ear-worm’…. to top off a beautiful song with a massive chorus…. that turns introspection into the warmth of a musical hug.
everybody is lonely all of the time
everybody is lonely all of the time
everybody is lonely all of the time
Combined with ascending repetition… and rock classicism – and an amazing sounding guitar solo.
It’s easy to be swept away by hurricanes
It’s easy to be swept away by hurricanes
And not to mention, turning foolish everyday phrases into poetic wisdom as he smuggles political ideas into the pop-song…
And you’re not racist but
you don’t see what all the fuss is
in institutional injustice
when is straight pride?
Don’t all lives matter?
Of course, he has always been a great songwriter since the 1980’s when he fronted Accrington Stanley (the beloved of Peel Indie Band not the football team). The Difference Engine ceased to be a mere backing band long ago – but this is them at the peak of their powers.
The first taste of this near-perfect, career-best album was this, Asbestos Love.
Unlike my previous reviews, the debut, eponymous, Difference Engine album from 2017, These Dark Ages Are Hurting All The People That We Love, 2018 and 2020’s, Richard Scarry Lied To Me I decided to let the songs do the talking. OK, and the press release…
these songs probe life’s dark waters: loss of family, faith, community & self-confidence – but also remains empathetic and rousing, ultimately cathartic. Once you’ve scraped the bottom, the only way is up. Creation is always an act of joyful defiance.
The songs take a zig-zagging tour of the narrator’s struggles with life, ‘maturity’ and the joys of middle-age. Like all lapsed cradle-Catholics, O’Farrell experiences the push-pull of his religious upbringing, searching for meaning as he tries to become as ‘nakedly human’ as possible.
Very few songwriters can get away with calling a song God Etc and singing this, It’s A Wonderful Life indebted verse:
I took an angel as my friend – their wings were bullet-proof to them
their feathers always made me sneeze – I spent the whole time on my knees
my angel got kind of depressed – told me I should get some rest
when I woke up they were gone – they left a halo to try on
Then there is a song called Loss about his ongoing grief for his late father, always his sternest critic as well as his staunchest ally.
Hang Me On The Wall is a bizarre departure, musically and lyrically – a fantastical prog-horror nightmare with shared vocals from Rick Foot, who gets the best lines.
This is simply the Difference Engines best album. Not a wasted moment, not a duff song. The most upbeat of albums covering dark subjects and it really does sound like a classic album.
Far too good to go under the radar – and Cod knows, far too good for me to make fishy puns out of the title. There’s a time and a plaice for that…
Full DOF&TDE back catalogue on Bandcamp
Album Launch 24/01/26 at Heartbreakers, Southampton Tickets
Facebook – the band Facebook solo
All words Ged Babey
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