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AUDIO Killian Barry Mike McGrath-Bryan Danny Wils
on David Keenan A Beginner’s Guide to Bravery [Rubyworks Records] Wolf Parade Thin Mind [Sub Pop] David Keenan belongs to the folksy heart-onsleeve singer-songwriter tradition you thought had been consigned to Irish music history books by the time Glen Hansard won his Oscar. On the evidence of his debut album, the Dundalk native appears rather eager to latch on to the bohemian literary heritage for which our nation is renowned, and A Beginner’s Guide to Bravery frequently feels like a bid to position this aspiring poet, guitar slung across his back, as part of the fabric of a romanticised city of chancers and scoundrels. To be fair, the album’s eloquent, narrative-driven style paints a vivid picture of distinctly Celtic characters who seem to belong to a bygone age. A Beginner’s Guide to Bravery is Nick Drake reverence imbued with the unruly spirit of Brendan Behan and the colloquial yarns of Christy Moore, at times lapsing into all-out Van Morrison cosplay. Given that Keenan plays the troubadour, the tracks are very much led by their lyrics, with the music struggling to announce itself. The record meanders as Keenan rambles and, clocking in at an indulgent 57 minutes, it’s not the first literary opus to be longer than it needs to be. Cautious approval then for an album of eyes-clenched-shut sincerity that could feasibly play well internationally, but is likely to be Marmite to Irish ears. KB Like this? Try these: Van Morrison - Astral Weeks Glen Hansard - Didn’t He Ramble Damien Dempsey - Seize the Day The curiously Canada-centric indie boom that so dominated the musical discourse of the mid-tolate oughts is looking strangely distorted through the lens of time’s rear-view. Whereas the turn of the century’s Strokes-led movement of, against all odds, fusing the sounds of The Velvet Underground and The Cars has been rightly canonized, their cousins from the Great White North rarely get their due. Frankly, Wolf Parade aren’t quite reediting the history books by diluting their legacy with pale imitations of their best work. Unremarkably fine to the point of being galling. DW Ghostking is Dead Fever Dreaming [HAUSU] Part rumination on the power of dreams to delight, distort and confuse, part indictment of a country that has lurched from one excuse for its mistreatment of young people to another over the past few decades, Fever Dreaming is Corkonian troubadour Ghostking is Dead’s most focused work to date. Matt Corrigan’s troubled bedroompop is en route to another place, as evidenced by the sonic diversity and broadening of scope throughout the release. Palm Tree, meanwhile, is the deserved realisation of a quietly-loved live favourite, keeping in the EP’s mood by rounding on housing-crisis paranoia in cathartic fashion. MMGB Gealach The Longest Night [Formorian Hate] Hazey Is Mise [PX Music] Less than a year on from their inception, Black Metal three-piece Gealach quickly set out a defined artistic statement with their early gigs and a selftitled demo tape. Striving, as they have, to explore and pull back the mists of Celtic esotericism and Irish history in uniquely raw fashion. Recorded live at Cork metal enclave Fred Zeppelin’s; The Longest Night expands on their demo’s remit with the first airings of new tracks, and a feral yet immediate feel, perhaps best illustrated in mid-set rager His Master’s Void. MMGB While Limerick hip-hop has always been a thing to behold, and Hazey himself is no stranger to blowing people offstage in his capacity as a member of Same D4ence, the Shannonside poet happened upon gold in 2018 in the form of What’s That?, a tune destined for the Irish hip-hop pantheon in due course. Debut album, Is Mise, fleshes out the ambition and vision that Hazey clearly harbours for himself and his city: a statement of intent that ebbs and flows between hip-hop bangers, conversations and personal reflections on life in Limerick.. MMGB Now Open 29 South Anne St, Dublin 2 Tel. 01 531 4491 82