Their third album in a decade and the long-awaited follow-up to 2003’s fabulous Somnambular Ballads sees the Dublin power-pop practitioners in a more introspective mood. Not that their acute pop smarts and jangly sensibilities have deserted them in any way; in fact if there’s a more glorious homegrown pop tune than the lush balladry of ‘The Only One For Me’ then I haven’t heard it yet. Harking back to the innocent early sixties world of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons and Dion & the Belmonts, it’s a brave move in a world where bland Kooks/Fratellis three-chord indie-pop reigns supreme.
Sly Stone/Boz Scaggs ‘70’s funk is the sonic template for ‘Symphony of Sound’ (the current single). An ode of sorts to latter-day Dublin, think the Lovin’ Spoonful’s ‘Summer In The City’ meets Sly’s ‘Family Affair’ and you’re nearly there. It also might just be the very first Irish pop song to reference the Luas (“Tram bells cheer the morning air”). Sun-kissed melodies and Beach Boys harmonies are also present and correct on ‘Everything Flowers In Her Garden’ while ‘I Can’t Do Anything To Ease Your Pain’ could be the best song Squeeze never wrote. Elsewhere, the psychedelic pop of ‘Seventeen’ and the Big Star/Raspberries influenced ‘Am I Fooling Myself’ round off what is another triumph for Saville, who go a long way towards proving that nostalgia is what it used to be!