Walkperson - Desired Effect EP

Desired Effect is the debut offering from Dublin based indie-alternative outfit Walkperson, the EP released under the band's own Urchin Music label earlier this month. Walkperson cite dEUS, Slowdive, PJ Harvey and BellX1 amongst influences, but are accredited as being more accessible than these influences might suggest, with occasional leanings into alt-country touched acts such as Ryan Adams, The Frames and The Shins.
With an overall melancholic mood which reflects a beauty in sadness, the tracks capture a lot of passion and energy in their delivery none the less, rising at times to Placebo-esqe moments. The three track EP opens with a Flatline, with a driving indie-riff contrasting with the delicate vocal delivery. Following through to the title track, Desired Effect works repetition to steer a melancholy home before rising to a sonic overture of guitar riff and melody that embodies a lot of power and emotion, and is this listeners choice, while the closing track, Simple, recedes to the more quietly spoken alt-country side of Walkperson. All in all, quite an excellent EP, even if running to just over 12 minutes.

Walkperson formed earlier this year by main songwriter and frontman Pearse McGloughlin, who had played the London indie-circuit for a year as well as stints in Montreal and France before finding home in Dublin. On his return from London, McGloughlin quickly paired up with Andrew Deacon on guitar who provided the songs with the textures they required. After several successful support slots Deacon and McGloughlin were soon joined by Alsez Bajgart from the Czech Republic on bass and James T Yearn on drums, whom McGloughlin had previously played with some years previous in Sligo outfit Socialite. As a solid unit of mixed backgrounds and influences, Walkperson are now in a strong position to build on this impressive debut release. 9/10.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/walkperson

http://www.walkperson.net/

Painting By Numbers - Circuits EP

For some of us, painting by numbers was a useful aid in our early days of learning how to be creative. The numbers were our stabilisers. The page, our open world. Listening to Circuits, the latest EP by Painting By Numbers, one can't help but get the impression they take their name in an altogether different context.

Circuits is quite an accomplished piece of work, the title track to which applies the analogy of painting by numbers to a relationship which has regressed to just going through the motions "this chemistry is all just memories.. ..and you're counting on numbers now." It's a lyric quite typical of the band, whose approach to song writing has already earned them much appraisal in the music press here as both accomplished and engaging, comparisons drawn with Crowded House in delivery.

Musically, the tracks on Circuits are all quite consistently harmonious and jangly, with intricately woven melodies, and fronted with the quite crystalline vocals of Ronan McCann, will appeal to those who prefer mainstream indie-rock. The choice track here is Breaking Mirrors which shows the band have the ability to crack out a fuller indie-rock sound when they want to. The unsigned four piece, who formed just over two years ago, are currently embarking a nationwide tour for the run up to Christmas, with their EP now finding its way to most online stores. 7/10.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/paintingbynumbersband

http://www.bebo.com/paintingbynumbers2

Bend This, Uri Geller!

Many musicians and song writers over the years have name checked paranormalist Uri Geller in their music, with an old favourite being from Johnny Cash, where in the song In Your Mind he puts Geller in his place, looking down at him in disbelief with "Eternity is down the hall, and you sit there bending spoons".


Minimalist indie-rock band Bend This Uri Geller are the most recent to join in the mick take on Geller's claim to fame. Some material available on their myspace is worth the visit, which besides the many influences from the home circuit, from Crayonsmith to Waiting Room listed, is actually quite comparable to the quieter moments of dEUS circa '96 (Gimme the Heat, Serpentine, Wake Me Up Before I Sleep). For their worth, the Dublin band take a refreshingly light approach to songwriting. The Innocent stands out amongst those streamable, quirky, rhythmic, melodic, it toys mock bewilderment with charm, but even in the lesser tracks there is something to smile to, with Pissin On A Road showing that with the right delivery one can write a song about just about anything and pull it off. Comedy rarely works well in music, but it does here. Just don't mention the cheese. 7/10.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/bendthiseurigeller

http://www.uri-geller.com/articles/influence-on-musicians.htm

Sydney Parade - If You Ever

What does an icecream headache sound like? Apparently, its the Sydney Parade. If You Ever is to be the first release from them after a few years of toiling away in the back recesses of Dublin. Put out on independent record label Nomadd, they describe their sound as psychedelic indie powerpop, but deliver tight, polished off, and overtly exclamated. Where did it all go wrong?

Coming at us in shimmering panache, three songs, one sound, and echos of the 80's gloss rock in parts, the feed is on those parts that one usually tries to forget. For a band who "just want to write great songs" they are probably failing most for trying too hard. This is polished stadium-wanton indie rock played from your local garage neighbourhood, and for all the curiosity of paradox that runs as a lifeline through alternative music, this one just doesn't wash. 4/10.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/sydneyparademusic

http://www.sydneyparade.com

Frequency-Ireland presents... The Things


Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/thethings

http://thethingsireland.moonfruit.com

http://www.myspace.com/thefewerthebetterband

http://www.thefewerthebetter.com

http://www.myspace.com/thebonevilles

Sacrum of Elegy

The influx of foreign culture into Ireland in recent years has brought many benefits, with the enrichment of the underground music scene here a cornerstone example. Returning to the gigging circuit after some months of down time, Sacrum of Elegy fuse the early 90s metal influences of Death, Testament and Paradise Lost with the gothic vocal of Karolina, echoing the haunting theatre of vampiric lust in enchanting slavic accent. Fans of goth-metal such as Lacuna Coil will be suitably impressed.

Listening in on their demo material, Never captures the imagery of graveground hauntings, treading the fine lines between love, lust, loss, longing and belonging, with key lyric 'your dark eyes shine through' wisping on the wind. I Wish quickly rises from haunting seduction to power as if it were natural transition, commanding over the the riff and melodies with confidence, and one also of merit, while Firedance, a more direct death-metal track is one possibly more suited to capture the adrenalin of the live circuit. Siren is perhaps the most elusive, but returns to more substance with the distinct sounds of epilogue, and a vocal delivered in native tongue hardly masks or hinders the alure. 9/10.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/sacrumofelegy

http://www.bebo.com/sacrumofelegy

Seneca - Smile / Sweeter Than Bourbon

Don't save your breath just breathe... such is the advise of Rob Hope on Smile, the first single to be lifted from Seneca's soon to be released Sweeter Than Bourbon debut album. They've been compared before to mixing Doves-like waves of sound with the perpetual motion of Arcade Fire, while in the vocal one can hear shades of everything from Jeff Buckley to Elliott Smith, and this single doesn't stray from that set of influences. While the new single is perhaps lacking originality, we do have as expected a radio friendly indie single that is likely to appeal to mainstrem listeners. It comes with So Beautiful, a much more gentle acoustic led affair as a b-side, also taken from the album. A band formed mid-2005, they have received numerous appraisals in the time that has passed since then, and opened for major Irish acts such as The Republic of Loose and Director, and they will undoubtedly receive further appraisals for this single in the mainstream music press also.

Listening through a preview copy of the album this past week, the best of their material lies elsewhere however. Opening with Clarity, a ballad with some of Jeff Buckley's appeal, broken and pulled apart, but held together with bare truth 'why should I take this terrible abuse, I'll tell you one thing I'm a mess but so are you' is quite a strong starting statement, and following through with Playing Fair, warm, propulsive, melodic, anthemic and emotive, we have perhaps the strongest track on the album, or certainly this listeners favourite. The title track, Sweeter Than Bourbon, delivered soft and close over a simple acoustic melody is another high point. Lyrics such as 'your eyes would make heaven hit the floor, something tells me you should be mine' and coupled with references to bourbon and cigarettes, it portrays the art of deception quite wryly, later confirmed with the lyric 'something tells me you see through my lies'. Good For What Ail's You, a coarser affair strikes of 60s pop-rock and has shades of The Beatles around Sgt. Peppers, while No Angel, a propulsive track with a memorable melody, also stands out later on the album, before it fades quietly with a triad of ballads in So Beautiful, Breath and Empty Street. Overall, where a lot of their material may lack in experimentation, the album as a whole makes up for in variety. The single Smile will be available in all good online stores from September 27th, with a launch party to be held at Radio City on September 13th, while the release date for Sweeter Than Bourbon has yet to be set. 6/10 for the single, 7/10 for the album.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/bandseneca

http://www.bebo.com/bandseneca