It doesn’t usually happen this way. Ireland has a history of exporting talented musicians and sending them on their way in the big, bad world, but rarely do we import acts intent on carving out a niche for themselves in our little corner of the globe. When Dutchman Richard Bolhuis moved to Ireland in 2005 and started taking his role as band leader seriously, what followed was an impressive EP (Palace For The Lost Ones), and now comes the quartet’s full-length debut Animal Dream.
Much has been made of the parallels between House Of Cosy Cushions and The Bad Seeds – but if it’s a predictable comparison, it’s also an accurate one. These are dark, pensive alt-rock songs, cloaked in a wispy veil of menace and atmosphere, and Bolhuis shares the same songwriting shrewdness as Cave – best exemplified on the minimal groove of ‘Good Old Love’, or the sublime instrumental ‘Jaunt’, both of which are crafted in a simplistic-but-stylish manner.
There are constituents of Calexico (the brisk Americana of ‘Animal Dream’) and even Soulwax (the poppy ‘She’s Not My Witch’) here, too, while the likes of Cathy Davey and Cora Venus Lunny join the ranks at various points, adding as much texture to the songs as the hellish violins, spluttering harmonica and portentous trombone intervals. There’s nothing cosy or cushioned about this house; if anything, this is a vaguely disconcerting record that furtively lures the listener out of their comfort zone. Like all the best ones, really.
Key Track: ‘Jaunt’