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| Track List: 1. I Woke Up Today 2. Stuck on a Boat 3. Fisherman's Son 4. Don't Take My Advice 5. Alive For Nothing 6. My Eyes Won't Shut 7. Pigeonhold 8. Will You Be There? 9. The Rooftop Song 10. In Vino Veritas 11. Close the Lid 12. Valdez Running time: 40 minutes Released: 2008 |
Another total oddball that I cannot explain by any means. I have vague memories of buying this from Amazon, and similarly vague recollections of not liking it very much. I do not recall what prompted the purchase or what I did not like, however so it is entirely probable that one or both of those memories will turn out to have been bunk.
Such is life.
Quite a punchy start... rhythmic and with a catchy hook; almost African in origin. Just a shame about the vocal which is simply put: awful. Not only is it out of keeping with the music that it overlays, it is a very poor harmony - more shouted than sung. There is the basis of a good tune here, but that vocal spoils it. If it is a sign of vocals to come, the whole album is ditched. There is enough in the backing to make me hope that is not the case though - catchy, hooky, there is something here that intrigues me. I am glad to hear the infectiousness continue past track one, whilst the vocal is replaced with a more conventional one (albeit with echoes of poor harmony on choruses).
A quarter of the way through and the elements are gaining some consistency - for better and for worse. The singing is more bearable when it is just the lead vocalist, but his voice is not very palatable. There is a rawness there which makes everything sound slightly out of tune to me. The arrangements are neat though - they have a quintessentially catchy set up. The percussion is solid, and there are layers of strings (guitars, banjos, fiddles and cellos at different points, I think) that provide either a solid hook to hang everything on, or a layered sound that comes across as really rich - and frequently both.
The songs are pretty short on average too, which means even those that rely on a single hook repeated for the length do not have time to get boring. 12 tracks in 40 minutes is good for that. Pretty good for passing the time too... I am killing time before an agreed Borderlands: The Presequel co-op session, watching muted football on TV and soaking my sink strainers with industrial-strength cleaning fluid. Seriously, those things get rank. I expected a forgettable listen as a result, but there is a lot more to this album than I thought.
It does get into horrible noise at times though - I Woke Up Today showed them capable of it, and Pigeonhold confirms they can do it with the instruments as well as with vocal. Again, there are some pretty cool elements to the track, but the way everything comes together is pretty ugly. By contrast there are a couple of much lighter songs too - ones where the vocal is even largely pleasant and/or the menagerie of instrumentation gives way to a softer string backing.
The most engaging songs are somewhere in the middle though - Port O'Brien seem to me to be best when hooking you strongly and hammering an interesting little pattern on the rim of your eardrum. I would not call them world beaters. There is no sublime genius at work here, but there is plenty of genuine love and hard playing and the ear-catching qualities that only come when people are really into what they are doing. There is a Waits-y vibe to some of the combinations of off-beat percussiveness and muted string, and a backyard guitar session feel to others - I am trying and failing to come up with a good artist to compare with.
The only songs that bored me in any way (the couple of bad tracks were not boring) were Close the Lid, which I think this more down to the length and the fact it does give the hooks and form long enough to get stale, and Valdez. The latter closes the album; it refers to the infamous Exxon Valdez spill but it is just a little trite and lacking any interest.
I will be cutting a few tracks here, but not as many as I was expecting to go before I began. The album provided a pleasant surprise and a light mid-evening entertainment. I won't be buying any more though.
Quite a punchy start... rhythmic and with a catchy hook; almost African in origin. Just a shame about the vocal which is simply put: awful. Not only is it out of keeping with the music that it overlays, it is a very poor harmony - more shouted than sung. There is the basis of a good tune here, but that vocal spoils it. If it is a sign of vocals to come, the whole album is ditched. There is enough in the backing to make me hope that is not the case though - catchy, hooky, there is something here that intrigues me. I am glad to hear the infectiousness continue past track one, whilst the vocal is replaced with a more conventional one (albeit with echoes of poor harmony on choruses).
A quarter of the way through and the elements are gaining some consistency - for better and for worse. The singing is more bearable when it is just the lead vocalist, but his voice is not very palatable. There is a rawness there which makes everything sound slightly out of tune to me. The arrangements are neat though - they have a quintessentially catchy set up. The percussion is solid, and there are layers of strings (guitars, banjos, fiddles and cellos at different points, I think) that provide either a solid hook to hang everything on, or a layered sound that comes across as really rich - and frequently both.
The songs are pretty short on average too, which means even those that rely on a single hook repeated for the length do not have time to get boring. 12 tracks in 40 minutes is good for that. Pretty good for passing the time too... I am killing time before an agreed Borderlands: The Presequel co-op session, watching muted football on TV and soaking my sink strainers with industrial-strength cleaning fluid. Seriously, those things get rank. I expected a forgettable listen as a result, but there is a lot more to this album than I thought.
It does get into horrible noise at times though - I Woke Up Today showed them capable of it, and Pigeonhold confirms they can do it with the instruments as well as with vocal. Again, there are some pretty cool elements to the track, but the way everything comes together is pretty ugly. By contrast there are a couple of much lighter songs too - ones where the vocal is even largely pleasant and/or the menagerie of instrumentation gives way to a softer string backing.
The most engaging songs are somewhere in the middle though - Port O'Brien seem to me to be best when hooking you strongly and hammering an interesting little pattern on the rim of your eardrum. I would not call them world beaters. There is no sublime genius at work here, but there is plenty of genuine love and hard playing and the ear-catching qualities that only come when people are really into what they are doing. There is a Waits-y vibe to some of the combinations of off-beat percussiveness and muted string, and a backyard guitar session feel to others - I am trying and failing to come up with a good artist to compare with.
The only songs that bored me in any way (the couple of bad tracks were not boring) were Close the Lid, which I think this more down to the length and the fact it does give the hooks and form long enough to get stale, and Valdez. The latter closes the album; it refers to the infamous Exxon Valdez spill but it is just a little trite and lacking any interest.
I will be cutting a few tracks here, but not as many as I was expecting to go before I began. The album provided a pleasant surprise and a light mid-evening entertainment. I won't be buying any more though.
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