Christian Cohle: Wetlands – Heartbreaking, acutely aware chronicle of a break-up

Don’t imagine for a second that the Dublin singer, songwriter and electronic-music producer Christian Cohle is faking sincerity. As someone who has been through bouts of feeling desolate, he invests Wetlands – his second album, the follow-up to 2021′s Holy Trouble – with a brooding melancholia that brings to mind the anxiousness of Matt Johnson’s The The crossed with the stark beauty of Anohni.

Acutely self-aware, the album charts the turbulent course of the break-up of a relationship; its opening titular track features a series of rushed and surging sounds (is that an underground train we hear?) that segues into a lone voice singing within swathes of electronica.

The final track, the ballad Our Last Dance, begins and ends with audio from FaceTime calls. (“I don’t have any connection with anyone,” Cohle tells his ex-girlfriend.) Sandwiched between the words, which are equal parts desperately sad and unashamedly, perhaps necessarily voyeuristic, is a gorgeous song delivered without affectation. As a sign of Cohle’s artistry, it is both brave and human.

Another track, the solo piano instrumental Wrap Around Me, tells part of the story without any words, yet is equally expressive. Other tracks, including Spinning Heart, Out of My Hands, Broken Future, and Offline similarly get the central message across: heartbreak may suck the big lemon, but there is always hope. Note to the wise: Wetlands officially launches at Whelan’s in Dublin on Friday, May 19th.