There are a couple of old schools of thought, one that says you should start as you mean to go on, and another that says you should go big or go home…
Falkirk folk-punks Brògeal clearly live by both of those adages, laying their cards in the table and going massive from the off with their hugely addictive anthem in the shape of the album’s title track. As a single I had rarely been able to listen to the song just once, this is a sign of the infectious nature of the songs across the rest of the album, and a solid guarantee of the pressing of the restart button at the end of the first listen…and the second…and…
The Tuesday Paper Club melds traditional celtic instruments with electric guitar and a melodic bouyant drinking song lyric to create a joyous singalong footstomper of gargantuan proportions. The Pogues would’ve been proud. But just make sure you’re a member…
Follow that.
Challenge gladly accepted with the bold and emotional Vicar Street Days announcing its arrival with a hook laden intro, the tempo is upbeat, but teamed this time with an emotional lyric and a heavy dose of reminiscing that brings a lump to the throat. That upbeat tempo comes down slightly with Friday on My Mind, but with no dimming of the raw passion, and the inclusion of an existential question “How long ‘til the solar system dies?” In the meantime let’s look forward to each new day, especially when it’s a Friday… As a watchword, passion is an apt description of everything about this album, the lyrics delivered with a spirited ardour, and the melody’s which underline the songs played with an intense fervour, even the slower numbers have an earnestly zesty vigour to them.
Lady Madonna brings the pace back up again in a song packed with pangs of regret as the Lady Madonna of the songs title can’t be his. The theme of relationships continues into the beautiful melancholy of Turn and Walk Away, while Scarlet Red has stress and anxiety quieting, lullaby like qualities, its soothing nature and heart-felt lyrics are enough to bring a tear to a glass eye. This band can do breathtakingly fragile just as well as they do bolshy and brash.
If the Pogues had a Falkirk accent…Dippin’ and Divin’ is a thirty second spoken word ditty which ends with a comment on the state of the world today …”if God looked down on this old town now he’d reassess his once great creation” before breaking into another gloriously rambunctious Pogues-esque drinking song in both sound and title. One for the Ditch comes complete with a raucous instrumental break which channels both Marie’s Wedding and Tell Me Ma.
That raucous spirit continues into Draw the Line, the accordion laden tale of the man who buys expensive shoes to kick people when they’re down…the resolution… “he’s in the jail or in the ground,” the high-spirited nature of the bands sound continues in full flow as Draw the Line gives way for Racing Track, a rollickingly exuberant song highlighting the perils of gambling, the song takes a reflective break, before closing in the boisterous upbeat nature in which it started.
Apples and Leaves is another delightful ballad, the harmonica and melodica adding a layer of poignancy, as I listened to this I couldn’t help thinking of Trashcan Sinatras at times, and even a hint of The Smiths Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want in the melody. Stuck Inside has an element of sorrow on its melody, perhaps reflective of the nature of the lyrics…”we’re always bloody stuck inside.”
The albums penultimate track is another affecting ballad. Go Home Tae Yer Bed is a stunning Burns like ode, I’m off again just writing about the song, it sends shivers up your spine, and then the Gaelic kicks in… the song builds to its heart rending emotive peak before fading out with the sound of waves lapping on the shore as it segues into the albums closing number, a cover of Finbar Furey’s Lonesome Boatman with the sound of seagulls. At first sounding sensitive to the original, Brògeal’s turns out to be a furious, pardon the pun, take on the tune, its sorrowful intro soon giving way to a crashing crescendo of instruments, the sound of the band signing off in style.