THE VICTORY DANCE

Recorded in a barn in West Cork (during downtime between Bell X1 US tours), Dave Geraghty’s second solo album is, in his own words, a “more collaborative” effort than his acclaimed ‘07 debut, Kill Your Darlings. It’s certainly more ambitious in its stylistic reach, with traces of Iron And Wine, Bon Iver, and Richmond Fontaine burbling beneath the surface.
Sonically, it’s rustic, organic and wistful with lots of beautifully understated arrangements. The atmosphere is that of a crackling log-fire on a cold winter’s night. The quirky backwoods folk-pop of opener, ‘Watch Her Win’, sets the scene while the banjo and tuba accompaniment on ‘Wear Out Your Name’ channels The Band. Elsewhere, ‘Tuesday’s Feet’ boasts gorgeous close harmonies reminiscent of Harvest-era Neil Young (‘Old Man’), though it soon meanders through the kind of quirky melodic twists and turns that The Shins get up to. Meanwhile the challenges posed by a long distance love affair are the inspiration for the yearning ‘Last Time Around’. Great stuff.