Clancy

Clancy EP

(Catchy Go Go)

THIS posthumously released four-track EP from the hugely gifted Paul Clancy is gorgeously haunting and hard to listen to without being gently reminded of the 35-year-old singer’s untimely passing in February 2010.

The four tracks here are poised and intimate and it really is impossible not be moved by the achingly fragile sentiment of these heartbreakingly poignant ballads. Opening with a naked and captivating version of Beyonce’s stomping hit ‘Halo’, this track serves as a heartfelt and elegiac ode to the young Irish troubadour and a shining example of his exemplary talent. ‘To The Even Flow’, ‘For Wanting You’ and ‘The Town Where I’m From’ are plaintive ballads filled with a mixture of hope and resignation.  There’s a warmth and insular beauty to Clancy’s music that is now, sadly, prophetically embroidered with his premature end. But rather than feeling morose or mournful, this new EP affords us a golden opportunity to celebrate and remember the life and music of a truly great Irish talent taken way before his time.

 

Ginnels

Mountbatten Class

(Long Lost Records)

SOUNDING like a long-lost treasure from the vaults of the ‘Elephant 6’ collective, ‘Mountbatten Class’ is a fuzzy lo-fi pop gem worthy of bands like Neutral Milk Hotel and The Olivia Tremor Control.

The side-project of Grand Pocket Orchestra and No Monster Club’s Mark Chester, Ginnels’ eight-track mini-album is a masterclass in infectiously nostalgic and jitterbugging pop music. Overachieving underachiever Chester best describes his delightful sound as “like your dickhead neighbour drowning out your Byrds and Feelies records with his poorly recorded noise jams with his… more stoned mates, except actually good.” The ‘Elephant 6’ collective’s ethos in a nutshell really!

‘Ssummer!’ sets the tone perfectly. Opening with its crackly vocals and tuneless acoustic strumming it quickly descends into a goofy fuzz-pop noise-fest with distorted guitars and swirling synths adding perfectly to the song’s wide-eyed and open-hearted sentiment.

‘In My Arms The Sedative’ is a mishmash of sixties sunshine, cheery harmonies, twanging guitars and off-beat lyrics closing with the wonderfully maudlin and sparkling mantra of “bad dream” repeated cheerily over gushy “ooh-oohs” making it reminiscent of Of Montreal’s earliest and best work.

‘Mountbatten Class’ is meticulously-crafted oddball pop music. It’s fun and catchy with its heart totally in the right place. Ginnels’ lo-fi DIY production values only add to this record’s endearing charm.

Songs like ‘Stink It Out’, ‘Algebra’ and ‘Same Same’ are sunny anecdotal vignettes complete with soul-crushing harmonies and wacky psyche pop wonderment. ‘Mountbatten Class’ is easily one of 2011’s finest Irish releases.

‘Mountbatten Class’ is now available as a free download from http://ginnels.bandcamp.com/

Water Cycle

The Company of Friends

(Some Tulip)

‘THE Company of Friends’ is an atmospheric and accomplished affair that will have you wanting to return time and again to fraternise with Aaron Page and his enthralling Water Cycle solo project.

The influence of a diverse range of artists from Bon Iver to Burt Bacharach, Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley can be heard over nine elegant tracks. And while Page’s emotive brand of ‘electric folk’ bears most resemblance to Sufjan Stevens for all its seductive, graceful and ambitious artistry it’s also rich in enough soaring sentiment and wry whimsy to have Neil Hannon and his chamber indie-pop pals sit up and pay better attention in class.

Water Cycle’s debut album opens with the haunting and reflective tones of ‘So Bright’. Page’s swooning vocals float over a sombre bed of chiming guitars before erupting into a tempestuous wave of elegiac brass, synths and vocal harmonies to celebrate the dawn of a new day, dazzling us with new possibilities, and the prospect of another eight tracks to follow.

‘Good Friends’ is a triumph. Its dizzyingly upbeat chorus, a celebratory life-affirming coda, is so spirited it could turn the world on its axis and I wouldn’t bet against it turning up to soundtrack a beer commercial either. Page’s fervent vocals on ‘Hazel’ find him sounding not unlike Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan over a charming lo-fi din of cheap drum machines and synths. ‘Sparks’ proves one of the album’s finest moments. Its dreamy and gooey point of view shimmers brightly over a flurry of syncopated twitches that tug at heartstrings and implores feet to dance.  

Page never ceases to impress throughout this remarkable debut for all its baroque arrangements, engaging ideas and almost organic grandeur. One thing is for certain. You should always keep in touch with your friends.

Bouts

Bouts

(Self-Released)

DUBLIN four-piece Bouts prove on their brand new eponymously-titled four-track EP that they are serious heavyweight contenders capable of punching well above their weight. From the opening bars of lead track ‘We Tried’ they pack a mighty and confident wallop that is sure to knock any lover of indie guitar music for six.
Bouts have a no-nonsense approach that is refreshing and totally infectious. The driving guitars, drums and bass lock together in unison like a beautifully well-oiled machine to create elaborately constructed pop tunes that literally leave you gasping for breath. Tracks like ‘Barbs’, ‘The Drift’ and ‘This Part Of Me’ are mesmerising math rock-influenced floor-fillers loaded with emotionally bruised lyrics, propulsive beats, dynamic energy and necessitous rockstar-in-the-making brashness. This is absolutely thrilling stuff.
Going on what’s on offer here I wouldn’t bet against Bouts wiping the floor with Pinback in a title fight!

Bouts is now available as a free download from http://gimmebouts.com/

Elevens

Torn At The Seams

(22 Recordings)

PICKING up where they left off on the exquisite ‘Tender To The Touch EP’, released earlier this year, Elevens are back to tug at the heartstrings once more with six achingly beautiful songs of love lost and found.
Featuring former Sack frontman Martin McCann on vocals and Tony Barrett of Brilliant Trees and Mark Healy on guitars, Elevens craft poised and intimate acoustic ballads that have the power to both bruise and soothe, in equal measure. But of course, with McCann, one of Ireland’s greatest ever singing voices, there to guide us through the lonely back streets of love where broken dishevelled souls and star-kissed lovers’ crash and burn at every turn, it was always going to be a ride worth taking even if it does get a little bumpy along the way. Newly recorded gems like ‘Torn At The Seams’, ‘We Really Do Care’ and ‘Love In An Instant’ are hope-filled torch songs that are rich in emotion, tender restraint and redemptive force.
Elevens take the broken-hearted and world-weary under their wing and patch them back up with a delicate embrace without ever descending into schmaltzy sentiment. There’s a poignant, autumnal feel to these gorgeously haunting snapshots of the heart. Live tracks ‘The Art Of Landing On Your Feet’, ‘Dry Land’ and ‘No Two Clouds The Same’ are equally sublime. Rather than wallowing in their own misery Elevens make purifying music that is uplifting and celebratory. In fact feeling heartbroken never felt so good!

DELORENTOS return to set our hearts alight with the release of their new four-track EP, ‘Little Sparks’, on Friday November 18th. The first fruits of the band’s recent recording session with Mercury Music Prize-winning producer Rob Kirwan (Bell X1, PJ Harvey, Editors, U2), it features the songs ‘Did We Ever Really Try?’, ‘Hunting’, ‘1521’ and ‘Door Left Open’. The EP will be packaged with a full colour 40-page magazine edited by the band themselves and featuring the wisdom and art of a broad array of Irish artists, musicians, filmmakers and photographers.
Announcing the new EP Delos recently enthused: “It’s almost five years to the day we first recorded something as a band and released our first EP, ‘Leave It On’, so we decided it would be cool to release a new EP of new music before the album. Like everything else on the album however, we’ve tried to make the release interesting and special as possible, and so we’ve enlisted the help of some of our friends for the release.”
The follow-up to 2009’s ‘You Can Make Sound’, which is also to be titled ‘Little Sparks’, is due for release early in the new year. But before Delorentos’ third album hits the shelves in 2012 there is a new EP as well as the band’s first ever acoustic tour to whet our lips over.
“We think this is the best album we have ever done, so we want to take the time to get everything right,” Delorentos explained.
Delorentos release the ‘Little Sparks EP’ on DeloRecords on Friday November 18th. You can catch the band unplugged in John Daly’s, Mullingar on Wednesday November 23rd, Triskell Arts Centre, Cork on Thursday November 24th and Unitarian Church, Dublin on Friday November 25th.

Like There’s No Tomorrow

Like There’s No Tomorrow

(Self-Released)


ANTHONY Mackey from Large Mound, arguably Ireland’s finest rock combo, delivers the goods on his debut solo album and sounds like he had lots and lots of fun along the way too. Fans of classic indie guitar rock such as Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur JR, REM and Sebadoh should definitely check this one out.
‘Like There’s No Tomorrow’ is brimming over with tasty pop nuggets, equally perfect, for campfire sing-alongs, blasting out of the car stereo or just getting your rocks off to. Opening track ‘Pick It Up’ sets the tone with its joyous handclapping as a day of gleeful gardening takes a nasty turn when a canine-less Mackey has to come to grips with scooping up doggy doo over some golden ‘Bandwagonesque’-like riffs and sunny harmonies. “Maybe if I’m lucky someone will put the kettle on and bring out some tea and biscuits for me,” he ponders while trimming his hedges.
This is quickly followed by its polar opposite as the old skool metal romp of ‘Is That What You Want?’ finds Mackey revisiting his lost youth as he has a good old whinge over a plodding headbangin’ ruckus worthy of the Mound.
Mackey’s distinctive Kermit The Frog-like vocals only adds to the delightful charm of sweet pop gems such as ‘Last Chance’, ‘Back The Way We Came’ and album highlight ‘DYD’. Whether he’s dipping his toes in some too posh to mosh chicanery on tracks such as ‘I Miss You’ or ‘If You Want Something Done', or just having a stab at some festive season frolics on ‘The Christmas Band’, LTNT is never self-indulgent or staid. This is a playful and enthralling album that proves yet again why Mackey and his Large Mound cohorts are among Ireland’s greatest talents.

Like There’s No Tomorrow is now available for download at http://ltnt.bandcamp.com

The Cranberries

Show Me The Way

(Cooking Vinyl)

‘SHOW Me The Way’ is the first new material from The Cranberries in a decade. The track is lifted from the Limerick band’s long overdue sixth album, which was recorded in Toronto and London this summer.
‘Roses’ was produced by long-time collaborator Stephen Street and you can be guaranteed it will sell by the barrel-load when it’s released on Valentine’ Day 2012. Unfortunately, judging by the first single taken from the album, it sounds as though the world-beating Limrockers have also scraped the bottom of it this time out. I would have hoped that after a ten year hiatus that The Cranberries would have returned with a spring in their step and some new ideas up their sleeves.
Guitarist Noel Hogan certainly proved with his solo Mono Band and Arkitekt projects that he’s no slouch when it comes to penning a killer tune. Perhaps he’s keeping all the best tunes for his next solo offering?
‘Show Me The Way’ is business as usual and by numbers Cranberries. It’s a banal nursery rhyme that lacks spontaneity or surprise. A pastiche of former glories, it’s a bloated little ditty that chugs along on an ephemeral fluffy cloud of grandeur as Dolly repeats mind-numbingly droll lyrics about losing her way. “Show to me the path I should take,” she sweetly whispers. Well someone should!
This is an unimaginative effort that does not bode well for Cranberries album number six.

‘Show Me The Way’ is available now as a free download from http://www.cranberries.com/

Little Xs For Eyes

S.A.D

(Self-Released)

Giving Glaswegian cousins Belle & Sebastian and Camera Obscura a run for their money, Dublin’s Little Xs For Eyes are fine purveyors of wistful and nostalgia-laden indie pop. The bookish sextet’s eagerly-awaited debut album is awash with shuffling grooves, twanging guitars and delightful boy/girl harmonies that shine a warm and woozy glow over tragic sentiments of  failed love, loneliness and dejection on kitchen sink vignettes such as lead single ‘In The Light’, ‘In Three Years’ and ‘Summer Never Comes’. And while it’s quirky and wry ‘S.A.D’ is anything but ‘twee’. This is sumptuous and sophisticated pop music with a playful and often sinister twist. Little Xs might use their fey and saccharine guiles to give the impression of being a bunch of insecure shrinking violets but the barbed undertones in their lyrics tell a wholly different tale. These charming indie-popsters have teeth, and knots on their bedposts too! Check out new single ‘In The Light’ in which the age-old quandary of the morning after the night before is summed up in a wonderfully seductive fashion as frontwoman Bennie Reilly coos the lines, “Does your heart quicken pace before my bare morning face, Or do you think, ‘Oh God, I’ve made a mistake’?”  Blending everything from Francoise Hardy to The Velvet Underground, Abba and The Shirelles into their saucy and sensitive tunes, ‘S.A.D’ gives us eleven reasons to be cheerful.

‘In The Light’ is available now as a free download from www.littlexsforeyes.bandcamp.com/

‘S.A.D’ is out on November 7^th 2011

FRONTMAN of now defunct Limerick band Vest Varro, Damien Drea, will preview tracks from his forthcoming solo album at The Curragower Bar in the city on Friday October 28th before heading over to the UK for a showcase gig at The Windmill in Brixton on October 29th.
Now working under the moniker dREA, the talented singer has just finished recording his eagerly-awaited debut with Giuliano Baglioni who has worked on many projects over the years with legendary U2 producer Daniel Lanois. Due for release next year, dREA has now boldly taken an invigorating about turn away from the anthemic stadium rock bombast of his former outfit Vesta Varro to follow a more adventurous path for his new musical project.
“There’s some dance elements and it’s more instrumental based in places,” dREA enthuses.
“There are some parts which don’t have the typical song structures that I have been used to in the past. There are also a lot of percussive elements, but it’s still very much a band sound,” he reveals.
At the height of dREA’s success with Vesta Varro he toured extensively and constantly across the UK and North America. Following the release of the Limerick band’s 2007 debut album ‘Exit Here’ they were quickly tipped as “ones to watch” by NME and hailed as ‘best band’ at the prestigious ‘Indie Week’ festival in Toronto. Their tracks also appeared on various compilations across the globe in countries such as Australia, Germany and Canada with the local boys also winning an impressive seal of approval from Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook.

LETTERKENNY-based duo Constant Supply comprised of James Gillen and Conal Sweeney are back with their “darkly compelling” brand of alt-rock in the shape of delectable new single ‘Daft Quotes’.

James and Conal have been playing music together on and off since they were 13. After around three years of playing acoustic sets (because they couldn’t find a decent drummer) James decided to purchase a drum machine before Xmas 2009. They haven’t looked back since. Their songs are now fully formed for people’s ears.

The follow-up to their 2010 critically acclaimed debut ‘Alleviate EP’ sees the Donegal pair once again teaming up with Tommy McLaughlin (Villagers/ Cathy Davey) at his Attica Studios.  ‘Daft Quotes’ is a very impressive first taste of what’s in store from Constant Supply’s eagerly-awaited debut album, due for release early next year. By marrying skittery rhythms, fuzzy riffs and an unsettling bassline with a perversely upbeat melody this track is a darkly delicious affair.

"It started off as quite a dark tune and chances are it would’ve stayed dark the whole way through if it wasn't for the Gorillaz album ‘Plastic Beach’. I was listening to it a lot at the time and it inspired me to write a chorus that was a bit more poppy, and dare I say, happy, musically anyway. The dynamic of a heavy, dark verse and then an uplifting poppier chorus works well I think. Hopefully the chorus will surprise people a bit,” says Constant Supply’s James Gillen.

‘DAFT QUOTES’ is available now as a free download from www.constantsupply.bandcamp.com