We Cut Corners:
Think Nothing:
CD/Download:
Delphi:
May 2014:
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Is it me or does the bloke chowing down on a plate of flowers on the sleeve look a tad like Alan Hansen. Oh, it's me.
Unlike my imagination, Irish duo We Cut Corners steer well clear of dryly-humoured but dour football critics on TV for inspiration - they head straight for the heart and soul of classic rock and roll. Well, so it says in the blurb - frankly, name-checking Ryan Adams, Leonard Cohen and The Velvet Underground does them little favour. However, a mention of Radiohead is perhaps a more accurate fit. Musically, there is an element of desolation and despair in places, minus the Thom Yorke masterclass in fragility and technicality.
In fact, We Cut Corners work well together to cover similar bases to Elbow and, an outfit I warmed to last year, The PJP Band from Plymouth and, dare I suggest vocally, Patti Smith - the singer is a bloke, by the way. Melancholia abounds throughout, with an element of the blousy and theatrical plus an ear for epic arrangements and big tunes. The opening Wallflowers is exemplary, a song that slowly germinates, buds, then unfurls to reveal its true colours before blossoming quickly into a fully-grown bloom before coming to an abrupt end. Class.
And it doesn't end there - most of this too-short album is edgy but melodic rock-pop bluster that, in the wrong hands, might have conjured up the very worst Irish stew. Instead, Messrs Duignan and O'Breachain have taken the time to prepare their ingredients properly and lay everything down in under three minutes in most cases. Exceptions include is the haunting Every Thief and the weeping string-laden closer, Hunger, both well-arranged and confident enough to convince any doubters. At times, the songs sound bigger than the two fellas in the credits and that's a compliment.
Think Nothing is certainly an improvement on their 2011 debut album Today I Realised I Could Go Home Backwards, not just for the simpler title but for the consistency on offer. Good album.
Think Nothing:
CD/Download:
Delphi:
May 2014:
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Unlike my imagination, Irish duo We Cut Corners steer well clear of dryly-humoured but dour football critics on TV for inspiration - they head straight for the heart and soul of classic rock and roll. Well, so it says in the blurb - frankly, name-checking Ryan Adams, Leonard Cohen and The Velvet Underground does them little favour. However, a mention of Radiohead is perhaps a more accurate fit. Musically, there is an element of desolation and despair in places, minus the Thom Yorke masterclass in fragility and technicality.
In fact, We Cut Corners work well together to cover similar bases to Elbow and, an outfit I warmed to last year, The PJP Band from Plymouth and, dare I suggest vocally, Patti Smith - the singer is a bloke, by the way. Melancholia abounds throughout, with an element of the blousy and theatrical plus an ear for epic arrangements and big tunes. The opening Wallflowers is exemplary, a song that slowly germinates, buds, then unfurls to reveal its true colours before blossoming quickly into a fully-grown bloom before coming to an abrupt end. Class.
And it doesn't end there - most of this too-short album is edgy but melodic rock-pop bluster that, in the wrong hands, might have conjured up the very worst Irish stew. Instead, Messrs Duignan and O'Breachain have taken the time to prepare their ingredients properly and lay everything down in under three minutes in most cases. Exceptions include is the haunting Every Thief and the weeping string-laden closer, Hunger, both well-arranged and confident enough to convince any doubters. At times, the songs sound bigger than the two fellas in the credits and that's a compliment.
Think Nothing is certainly an improvement on their 2011 debut album Today I Realised I Could Go Home Backwards, not just for the simpler title but for the consistency on offer. Good album.