The Goo 1
Albums Reviews Elaine Malone - Pyrrhic From the o
ff, Elaine Malone declares ‘Open Season’ on trying to pin down her style. The aforementioned opener features an arresting gear change, layering multiple sounds and instruments and a jazz freak out, tentatively reminding me of Mahavishnu Orchestra. Her second ‘Dark Rooms’ uniquely builds on a jazz platform creating a kind of shoegazing The High Llamas. ‘Moontread’ advances the shoegaze theme going full MBV. It sounds huge and is absolutely not found wanting, even the fade out could be considered, quietly reverential. ‘Hunger’ is grittier, the experimental style and staccato delivery of the lyrics evoking PJ Harvey and Patti Smith. ‘My Baby’s Dead (Redux)’ revisits a fine single from 2019 but this new version is downright exquisite. It almost feels commissioned by Dir. Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas), a distant, otherworldly blues number, worthy of Ry Cooder. The ‘Eat Out Of Your Hand’ title lyric is rasped violently at its crescendo and is as menacing as anything Gila Band have produced. The final three, including ‘Stupid Hipster’ & ‘Nothing Is Real’ feel like a darker Americana suite, this time produced by David Lynch; the pePAGE 14 DAVID CARR / LORNA BROWN / ETHAN GOLDING / NIALL MCGUIRK / ALAN MONNELLY / ADHAMH O CAOIMH / STEPHEN STONE nultimate ‘Sin Eater’ almost shifting into the horror spectrum. You’ll notice I’ve name checked many artists in this review but I’m only scrambling about because it willfully defies being labelled. It displays a mastery of multiple genres while singularly remaining…Elaine Malones album. Has she insinuated the difficult birth of this album in the title ‘Pyrrhic’? To me her victory is absolute and any cost be damned…for it is astounding. DC Galvo - The HeARTist A lone fingerpicked guitar opens ‘The Weight’ before a triumphant and unexpected orchestration bursts from the speakers. GALVO’s falsetto is too a surprise, cutting beautifully above the elaborate sonics recalling shades of Sufjan Stevens, or Bon Iver when he migrated from the woodshed to April Base Studios. The layered and dense songwriting is rife with small hooks and melodies woven into larger ones, and the ambitious instrumentation is all the more impressive considering the self funded, truly independent nature of the music. Indeed, recent history has proved more difficult than most for Galvo, but this anthemic and eccentric collection of Indie Folk is filled with truly beautiful moments, genuine and authentic through and through. ‘Maybe’ is one highlight, the banjo and guitar accompaniment benefiting from quieter, more pastoral moments between ecstatic bursts of percussion and strings. Followed by the gentle, piano lead ‘Take, Take’ revealing deeper layers of vulnerability and honesty. The relative rawness of the production suits the bombastic ambition of the composition beautifully, and the eclectic array of influences the artist draws from has left him with a sound that is all his own, while nodding subtly to his heroes. A grandiose and spellbinding debut. AOC Soda Blonde - Big Dream Soda Blonde are in fine form with their second studio album “Dream Big”. If you find yourself in a rocky-pop-y sorta mood then this is the very record. It’s got that gnarly but nice punk edge, and with Faye O’Rourke’s vocal magic there’s a steely girl-singer force at its heart. O’Rourke brings all of the indie-chick Tori Amos feels. And there can’t be a female vocalist who hasn’t heard Kate Bush said too many times, but it’s surely the highest compliment? But, this lady has her own sublime groove, and it’s ever-present on “Dream Big”. A voice to muse on. That sort of bedroom net-curtains vibe, inner-monologue Pulp thing… Soda Blonde are all over it. There’s an intimacy. We can get lost in O’Rourke’s voice with “An Accident” a languid ballad that rolls along on lazy, hazy licks until it segues into a lovely lilting solo. Hello Johnny Marr. This band has serious skills. Soda Blonde are both hot and cool. The spirit of The Cranberries can be felt in “Why Die For Danzig” forging the innate Irish-ness of this Dublin four-piece.