Category: Music Review

Silhouette: Running Against The Wall Review

Shauna Tohill is Silhouette but with this single Ms. Tohill does more than just reveal the outline of herself. Tohill cleverly gets the refrain in early in the song, building familiarity with the track. ‘Running Against The Wall’ is a pounding in your face indie pop tune with clever arrangements and instrumental breaks and big bold fat bass lines which cross genres and build to a frenzied climax.

Undoubtedly, Tohill will gain comparisons to Tori Amos and Kate Bush due to her piano led songs. Instead of playing it safe though, she grabs the ‘female piano singer-songwriter’ tag and gives it a good shake, stamping her own mark with the help of her powerful vocals.

While previous single, ‘Can’t Keep Up’, showed Silhouette’s pop sensibilities (anyone remember Hue and Cry?), ‘Running Against The Wall’ shows an artist who has developed their art and makes their huge sound seem so easy. Keep an eye out. I really like this.

Catch Silhouette live:

July 1st:  Summer Madness, Kings Hall, Belfast 
July 6th : Youth Fest NI 
July 21st:  Glasgowbury Festival
August 18th: Stendhal Festival, Limavady 

June 14, 2012
David Lyttle: Interlude Album Review

Sometimes you get surprises, sometimes they’re not good, sometimes, out of nowhere, like David Lyttle’s album ‘Interlude’, they’re great. David Lyttle is a producer and instrumentalist from Northern Ireland and in his album beautifully melds the genres of jazz and hip-hop.

The album opens with ‘Take Me to the Moon’ with vocals by UK rapper Homecut. Take the good bits from Blackstreet’s No Diggity and add a dash of Pharrell’s Justin Timberlake influence and you’re in the right arena. Homecut’s words roll out beautifully and the balance between the vocals and instrumentation is spot on. Catchy and memorable.

Lyttle has been really clever when matching up vocalists with tracks, here, they just seem to have always meant to be this way. The laid back jazz with urban style vocals is just a breath of fresh air and is as good as any music in the genre. MOBO winner Soweto Kinch features in ‘Uncertain Steps’ alongside Pino Palladino, such is the talent on this album, it’s jaw dropping. Lyttle also keeps it in the family with his Mum, Anne contributing vocals to ‘Seek’ and sister, Rhea, appearing also, notably on ‘Questions’ as well as the title track.

This album is funky, soulful, jazzy and very very sexy. Lyttle has crossed into new territory with this album but still it still retains his jazz origins. The problem for your scribe is not be too gushing, too over the top in praise of this album. This is a joyous Irish record and stands up easily beside its international counterparts. David Lyttle. Remember where you first heard the name.

June 13, 2012
Raglans: Long Live EP Review

Raglans‘ Long Live EP is the first release on the new label from legendary Dublin music tavern, Whelan’s. Many good words have been bestowed upon the Dublin based four piece and for a first release for a prestigious name like Whelan’s, the pressure is on.

The EP opens with The Libertines tinged ‘The Man from Glasgow’ and immediately the quartet show themselves capable of writing a catchy tune that will have you singing along. The songwriting is clever and although original displays a familiarity that from the first listen, puts you at ease with their music.

‘Long Live’ is a great introduction to the band, many on their debut depend on the lead track with the rest of the EP, filling up the gaps. ‘Digging Holes’ shows the Raglans are not a one trick pony combining their indie pop tones with a trad injection via the mandolin.

Midway through the EP is a good place to try something a little different. ‘Sand In My Pockets’ still features the Raglans’ catchy hooks but with throwback production values that transport you the late fifties/early sixties. Nice approach and the stripped back production complete with double bass and old skool harmonies emphasize the band’s songwriting talents.

The Raglans were on to a good thing with this EP to start, it was partly recorded with Boz Boorer, who has previously worked with Morrissey, in his gaff in Portugal. When you have someone like that on board and it’s the band themselves who are credited as the EP’s producer, it’s either someone who is extremely cocky or like here a band confident of where they are and what they want to sound like. It’s paid off. Raglans are definitely a band to watch, they’ve written and produced five decent tracks for the EP. Pressure is on now to double that for an album.

June 12, 2012
Spector: Live in Whelan’s, Dublin (Video)

I’ve been looking forward to seeing Spector for a while. I enjoy their pop indie sound, their energy and their attitude, plus Fred McPherson is a pop/rock star we’ve been waiting a while for and he proved he had the showmanship to take this onto the stage.

Clever witty banter, musically sound, the band shone. Something weird happened during the gig though and it’s harder for me to write about this as I know one of the people involved. A local radio station in Dublin changed the lyrics for ‘Chevy Thunder’ to Hairy Panda and someone I know made a video for it and put it on Youtube. When I interviewed Chris from Spector, he hadn’t heard about it and googled it as we were chatting. (sound bloke by the way).

During the night pieces of paper with the words ‘Hairy Panda’ were handed out and the two people ended up on stage, which was weird. Unfortunately, only some of the audience knew what ‘Hairy Panda’ was about and changing the lyrics for their biggest song was a bit of a ‘fail’ for Spector.

To be honest, this left an unsavoury taste in my mouth and it was a tad embarrassing. Both Chris and Jed from the band weren’t particularly happy about it afterwards and Fred apologized for the incident on Twitter.

I really enjoyed the band’s performance though and I look forward to seeing them without a stage invasion.

June 1, 2012