Album review: Niall Horan, Flicker

Niall Horan's released his first solo album post One Direction. Photo / Getty Images

When Niall Horan was with One Direction, he was the happy-go-lucky, warm-natured one who was happy to have a good time and let the others take center stage.

And that's also kind of how his debut solo album has played out.

Horan's Flicker is easily likeable, but it's also incredibly safe. It hasn't taken a single risk, everything is kind of mid-tempo or a ballad, it's all sung in a safe middle range, and the lyrics are breezy and inoffensive.

None of that makes this a bad album, it just makes it a little unremarkable.

Flicker draws you in with its strongest tracks; the lead track, On The Loose, comes in with some funk influences and cool guitar riffs, leading on to popular single This Town, country duet Seeing Blind with Maren Morris and Horan's hit Slow Hands.

There are rock, pop and even soul influences, but none of them comes through strong enough to override that folky, singer/songwriter vibe. And maybe that's okay, maybe that's what Horan's going for.

Where Zayn Malik took the sexy R&B route and Harry Styles went for experimental rock, Horan's stayed very determinedly in his own lane and it suits his sensibilities.

He lets himself down lyrically at times, with cheesy lines about driving "highways and byways" to be with someone a la Plain White Ts, and having a sexy song with lyrics like, "Slow hands / Like sweat running down our dirty laundry" kind of kills the mood.

But if those are the most of his issues, Horan's probably doing okay. It's a perfectly fine debut album and who knows, it could see him play it safe through a long career while everyone else's risks burn theirs.

But it could also see him fade into obscurity as fast as anyone else could burn out. We'll see.

Niall Horan, Flicker

Artist: Niall Horan
Album: Flicker
Label: Universal
Verdict: A pleasant enough meander down the middle of the road