Police Dog Hogan, the British band that is firmly rooted in bluegrass and Americana, are back with their seventh album, The Light At The Top Of The Stairs. The band are in touch with their elder selves on this LP, with even the title being a nod to the afterlife, the themes of mortality and grief are there for all to see.
‘How Did It Get To Be So Late’ is the opening track, and it starts with some very sombre sounding piano from Shahen Galichian, before being joined by James Studholme on guitar and vocals. Immediately you get a sense of sorrow from Studholme’s voice, it matches the entire vibe of the song quite well (he also sounds slightly like David Gilmour). The track has this lovely summer evening feeling to it, the trumpet from Emily Norris adding to that effect. Later, the song explodes into this uplifting melody with the trumpet and organ combining with the harmonies to deliver a great sound. Brilliant opening track. The next track, ‘Go Down Fighting’ feels like a theme to a character in a film. It carries a motivational message with that candid ‘don’t give up’ attitude, but it can come across as gimmicky, like that typical southern cowboy music that you can’t ever take too seriously. But it does carry some good guitar work from Studholme. ‘Just Breathe’ takes us back to the calm, downbeat sound. The piano and Studholme’s vocals carry a good chunk of the track, before the rest of the band explode in on the chorus, and it sounds quite good. A mellow track.
We get some violin from Eddie Bishop on ‘One Last Trip Around The Sun’, which matches the very soothing feeling the track emits. Studholme’s vocals tread carefully and the guitar is very chilled, until the end of the track when everything picks up briefly before relaxing in the outro again. ‘Run Towards the Fire’ is high energy from the start, the beat from Alistair Hamer is quick, and the riff is matching it. Even Galichian’s keyboard in the background runs smoothly, almost dreamy. A decent track for sure. ‘Passing Through’ brings us back down a bit, the slow acoustic guitar almost hypnotising to listen to. The song is very atmospheric, it feels like a soundtrack to walking through the desert, Studholme’s vocals taking us through a journey of various destinations.
‘Seven Kinds of Rain’ takes us back to a similar vibe to ‘Go Down Fighting’, the energy is up. I can’t help but think of a cowboy singing this one as well though, both of these tracks seem to have the southern gimmick feel to them. ‘Sister Louise’ is a saloon number. By that, I mean the piano and the vocals sound like you’ve just walked into the melancholiest bar in the wild west. That is no insult though, the feeling works really well here, and you can’t help but feel yourself nod along to that piano. It’s a tale of sorrow to happiness when ‘Sister Louise’ turns up. Certainly, my favourite track on the album, it even treats us to some rag time playing at the end of the track, how joyful. ‘Flight 5a’ carries on the western vibe, Tim Dowling playing banjo on this one. The track feels very blissful, the trumpet throughout the track sounding like a dream scene. The final track, ‘The Truth About Ghosts’, is about as mellow as you can get, similarly to the first track. just acoustic instruments and Studholme’s vocal. It’s a nice outro; the melody is smooth and so are the vocals.
And with that, Police Dog Hogan’s seventh album concludes. The Light At The Top Of The Stairs is a good mixture of Americana and bluegrass music. It has relaxing and even sombre melodies, mixed in with some faster paced numbers, some of which feel like they play on the southern cowboy gimmick. But overall, the sound of the album and the stories being told by Studholme are good, and it serves as a good addition to the band’s discography.
Police Dog Hogan: The Light At The Top Of The Stairs – Released 10 April 2026
