Tony Clayton-Lea reviews some of the new releases in Ireland in recent weeks
GinnelsANYONE who says that ‘guitar’ albums are a thing of the past is talking through their figurative rear end. You only have to listen to Dublin DIY band Ginnels and their new album, The Picturesque, to prove the point. As can sometimes be the cause for long gaps between albums (Ginnels’ previous album, A Country Life, was released over ten years ago), life’s travails have shoehorned their way in, and so it is that Mark Chester, Ginnels’ mainstay and mastermind, has weathered various storms that have come their way. The outcome isn’t just a wiser album but a warmer one, with a dozen songs that quickly make their mark and then refuse to budge. Indelible pop songs with hints of REM, The Go-Betweens, and The Replacements might not seem like the soundtrack of today’s kids, but they’d be missing a trick if they didn’t wrap their ears around this excellent piece of work from one of Ireland’s maverick (if slightly missing-in-action) songwriters.
ANOTHER songwriter that needs to be heard is someone who hasn’t necessarily been hiding in the undergrowth for the past 15 or so years. Once upon a time, Dublin’s Bren Berry was a member of Revelino, a hotshot band that deserved every plaudit that came their way. As happens all too often, that band went the way of many others, and Berry went to work for one of Ireland’s leading music promoters. The itch, however, never goes away, and in the shape of In Hope Our Stars Align, it has resurfaced as a crystal-clear indication of talent never going away, either. If you’re after classy pop/punk that, in more ways than one, removes the scouring effect of Jesus and Mary Chain songs and replaces it with well-aimed spit and a steady polish, then it looks as if your stars have aligned, too. In a word? Cracker.
THE MURDER CAPITALTHE MURDER Capital and their third album, Blindness, positions the Dublin band (the members of which now live in parts of Ireland, Europe and the UK) in an interesting place. Sonically, they go for broke, take no prisoners, and so on, and while such a level of intensity can pay dividends (“We wanted to needle-drop straight into the feeling of these tunes,” says vocalist and lyricist James McGovern), there is only so much concentrated potency a body can take. Shrewdly, they address this by occasionally taking the proverbial foot off the pedal in songs like A Distant Life, Born into the Fight, Love of Country, Swallow, and Trailing a Wing. By doing so, disturbances in the Force are remedied, all is good with the world, and The Murder Capital progress to the front of the queue.
IT'S A similar case with Derry’s Wood Burning Savages and their new album, Grind Your Teeth. There is a great human interest backstory to the making of the album (the band’s lead singer, Paul Connolly, was laid low for almost two years with an initially mysterious medical condition), but perhaps just as important was the decision for the band to return after almost seven years with a batch of songs that were virtually invulnerable to pesky fluctuations of health. In other words, the songs here are as match-fit and solid as, well, rock (and roll). Welcome back, savages.
MARIA KELLYAND where, I hear you ask, are the ladies? Enough of the lads and their rabbit punches and crunchy riffs, I also hear you mutter. Say hello to Maria Kelly and her second album, Waiting Room, the follow-up to her 2021 debut, The Sum of the In-Between. That album, equal parts genteel and gritty, presented Kelly as a voice to be listened to (over 10 million Spotify plays prove that people did just that). Her new songs are woven from the same characteristics. Tough topics (health, housing, fractured societies, fragmented friendships) are presented against the backdrop of some of the best pop melodies you’ll hear this year. The overall tone may be serene and calm, but Kelly knows how to throw a dart straight into the bullseye. It is this juxtaposition that gives the songs their strength and charm. The review for those with short attention spans? It’s a beaut
See More: Music Form Ireland, Recent Releases
