Featuring nine tracks in just 23 minutes, the latest spit from the gob of Sweden-based Irish rocker Eamonn Dowd is raw, raspy and raucous. Recorded in Dublin, Gothenburg and Ghent, the bulk of the songs were laid down with fast and furious Swedish act The Lost Souls.
Opener ‘Five Star Soul’ is a tribute to American author Henry Miller. Featuring a memorable guitar riff, ‘No Rhyme No Reason’ addresses the futility of trying to make money for the sake of it, and also the challenges of just surviving financially: “Wake up in the morning/ And I turn the light on/ Letters in the hallway/ I don’t know who they’re from.” Coming in at just under two minutes, ‘Life Is Long’ is one of the shortest songs here, but it boasts the album’s most memorable refrain: “Life is long when you know how to live it.”
On the songs recorded with Dowd’s own band The Racketeers, a slightly more rounded sound comes through, as piano, organ and lap-steel are thrown into the guitar-heavy mix. The only real let-up is the duet with Belgian singer Ingrid Veerman: ‘The River’s Frozen til April’ is a mid-tempo ballad dealing with loss and death, featuring plaintive fiddle, glockenspiel and a looping four-chord shuffle. Another short, sharp, sonic shock. Once again, Dowd proves himself to be the real rock ‘n’ roll deal.
OUT NOW.