Sometimes less is more. While some bands go for epic orchestral arrangements, Dublin band We Cut Corners show just how much you can do with just a drum kit and a guitar. Their excellent debut album sees them jump easily between making a glorious guitar-shredding racket (the Patti Smith-esque ‘Three People’, the poppy ‘The Leopard’ and the plaintive ‘Say Yes To Everything’) and creating perfectly crafted lo-fi folk pop (‘A Pirate’s Life’, ‘Dumb Blonde’). It’s amazing how much wonderful noise can come from combining those two instruments.
Drummer Conall and guitarist John have already been compared to The White Stripes, but they’re often a lot more interesting than that rather one-note drum-and-guitar duo. The heavier songs are exhilarating but complex – ‘The Leopard’ is a particular highlight – and even when the music is tender, the lyrics have bite. “I should have tried it when we were friends because you were much more vulnerable then,” they coo on ‘Dumb Blonde’; ‘A Pirate’s Life’ begins with the fantastic lines: “The night breaks into little parts/ And I’m reduced to stealing hearts/ It’s a pirate’s life for me”. In fact, the lyrics are great throughout, reminiscent of Belle And Sebastian at their most sweetly caustic. The band sound self-assured – and justifably so.
Some debut albums are merely promising. Today I Realised I Could Go Home Backwards is the sound of a band who have already arrived.