We love you dark matter --- Dark Room Notes --- 2009 (Gonzo)
Right, in the interests of making sure as many different genres are covered as possible in the closing days of this inaugural Irish Week, let's try these guys. I know little about them other than what I have just now read, but they appear to be one of the rising stars on the Irish electropop/synthpop scene. They have a new album due out next month, but this is their debut and another album that was shortlisted for the Meteor Choice award, back in 2010.
“Each and every one of us” opens the album on a bright keyboard melody with drums that sound like a horse walking along, then the vocals of Ronan Gaughan cut in, intense and a little angry, but without the wild abandon of some vocalists in the same bracket. Nice guitar work too, and it seems both he and fellow founder member Ruairi Ferrie play guitar, sing, play synth and program (presumably the drum machines they use), with the addition of glockenspiel (!) being played by both Ferrie and the remaining member of the trio, Arran Murphy. This will make it a little difficult to know who's singing, so I'll just leave that hanging in the air. “Love like nicotine”, the lead-in single, is a rockier affair, with a lot of indie-style guitar and a really nice keyboard hook. A lot of energy in this song, really hops along, and the tempo doesn't slacken for “The same city awaits me”, the verses a little more stripped-down and basic than previous tracks, with some nice twiddly guitar bits and some pretty heavy drumming and a nice dancy synth solo halfway through. Kind of reminds me in places of Depeche Mode or New Order, though I was never much into that sort of music.
A bit more laidback and pop is “Fast flashes/Who is Isabella Moonlight?” I know I can hear female vocals in there: whose are they? Who, indeed, is Isabella? More new-wave style keys a la the likes of Fiction Factory, but the song is catchy, however I don't get the idea of the double title? A very dancy number but with overtones of both The The and Ric Ocasek is “This hot heat” (what other kind of heat would you have?), with some nice guitar touches breaking up the more or less predominant keyboard sound, handclap drumbeats, which never go down well with me, and a vocal which is just this side of rap, also not a good sign, from my point of view.
Much more back in the rock vein is “Broken nail”, with keyboard flourishes recalling Bronskibeat (urgh!) and Visage, but the guitars really break out on this track and stamp their authority on the song, overriding the banks of synthesisers for once, and to good effect. Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb here and hypothesise that Arran Murphy is female (sorry if you're not!), as their picture shows a woman with two guys, and Ruari and Ronan are definitely male names, whereas Arran is that sort of name that could be either, like Vivian or Ronnie. “Elm” is a sort of striding electro-rocker, with a deep bass beat and squealing keyboards, the tiniest edges of punk just scraping off it as it passes by, and again the Cars/Ocasek influences are back. Hey, those keyboards sound like an accordion, just there! Oh, they're gone now.
Thick heavy bass intro to “Shake shake my ceiling”, then it kicks off into another fast electronic popster, the bass continuing to carry the rhythm as the keyboards and synths wail away, guitar cutting in and good backing vocals filling out the song. There's a slow and atmospheric opening then to “Let's light fires”, but it quickly picks up speed and bops along on a superfast synth and drum pattern, with a lot of energy and power, then “Treetops” takes us to the end of the album with what sounds like a more laidback, slightly slower song, with bassy synth and handclap drums, understated vocal and some sparkly piano. On synth, no doubt.
Yeah, this is good, but it's not my kind of music so it's a little hard to get too excited about it. For me, electronic music, with a very few exceptions, has always sounded just a little empty, soulless. I don't really get that from this particular album, but I don't see it that much different from the admittedly limited examples of this genre I have heard. A very good debut album, but purely on the basis of not being into this sort of thing I would not be in any huge hurry to hear the new album. For those of you waiting though, only a few more weeks to go, if rumours are to be believed.
TRACKLISTING
1. Each and every one of us
2. Love like nicotine
3. The same city awaits us
4. Fast flushes/Who is Isabella Moonlight?
5. This hot heat
6. Broken nail
7. Elm
8. Shake shake my ceiling
9. Let's light fires
10. Treetops