Oh bloody FINE, then, just leggo my arm! I’m not one for reviews but this was always going to happen:

A very nice man behind a new outfit called Land Lovers sent me an album in late June, enclosing sweets and a very well-written press release announcing the launch of his debut album Romance, Romance in September. Recorded entirely at home in true lo-fi style, it’s proved my ultimate Irish album of the summer, packed to the brim with gorgeous, singable tunes all about - you guessed right - romance.
Such broad, differing expanse of singular emotion creates something of a challenge to do justice, yet Padraig Cooney has done just that. Produced to crystal-clear effect, Romance, Romance mirrors the pitch and toss of that thing called Love, using a gamut of tempo, mood and melody changes - from opener The Whip Hand’s hint at fine Irish tradition of gentle guitar set to singer-soothsayer rumination, jaunty disco beats of Dark Secret, Hildegart, No’s plaintive pleading and almost-Postal Service simplicity of Novel Rus - to catalogue the angst, euphoria and desperation that comes when a heart is pledged to another.
Assumptions of yet another love-song LP lie shattered by these ten songs, remarkably well-crafted considering Cooney laid down each instrumental arrangement by himself. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, like this record in any other musical camp in the country. My biggest critique is the sheer quality of it all: a debut album of such strong calibre left me feeling hoodwinked and cheated, drawn in and left panting for more like a lovesick sucker. At just over 34 minutes, it’s a whirlwind courtship that ends as suddenly as it began, the listener emerging from a pink haze of melody defined as clearly as a heart on a steamy window. Be prepared to hit ‘repeat’.

Land Lovers are now a full live outfit consisting of Padraig Cooney, Ciaran Canavan, Brian Lynch and Rob Maguire. In conjunction with Hefty Horse Promotions, Romance, Romance premieres at the Boom Boom Room with a special launch price of €5 on 19 September. Special guests on the night include Brian Cullen’s Love Bullets and Betamax Format’s Darren Moloney with his solo project You’re Just A Voice On The Phone.

Download Dark Secret from MySpace.

www.myspace.com/landlovers

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 11:56 pm and is filed under Albums, Hurry Up And Release The Damn Album!!, Music, Unsigned Bands, gigs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.