talents of Brendan Tallon, once of the highly-touted guitar-driven power-poppers Revelino, who released several acclaimed albums in the late ‘90s, and Barry O’Mahony, formerly of the equally well-regarded Luggage from around the same era. Saturday Captains’ influences are clearly more ‘60s than ‘90s and their debut is chock-full of understated, intelligent, carefully-constructed and meticulously-arranged pop songs.
With its ‘96 Tears’-style cheesy organ stabs and memorable chorus, ‘Lost Cargo’ is a near-perfect song and nails their sound superbly; the mellotron keyboard effect and jangly guitars on ‘Longest Hours In Europe’ finds them channelling the psychedelic whimsy of bands like Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd and The Move; the Kinks-like ‘Sunset Set’ wouldn’t sound out of place on The Village Green Preservation Society; and the soaring, heaven-bound harmonies, chiming guitars and lovely melody that come together in ‘No Love Stronger’ mark it out as a particular highlight. ‘Kiss of Life’, a robotic, syncopated instrumental is something of a departure from the predominant sound here, while the angular guitars and irresistible chorus on ‘Give It Up’ blend all the best bits of New Order, Television and Gang of Four. Does that make this sound like a real gem of a record? Well, that’s because it is...
COLM O’HARE