Album Review: Lemoncello, Lemoncello

Signing to Claddagh Records in February, the eponymous debut from Lemoncello captures the essence of the duo’s ability to transport listeners. Over nine tracks, Lemoncello traverses a vast thematic landscape, as it explores the unfolding of adulthood, perseverance and sacrifices made for love.

Lemoncello – Laura Quirke and Claire Kinsella – boast an undeniable chemistry in their swirling harmonies. This dynamic is captured and amplified in spades by the production, courtesy of Julie McLarnon. The band recorded the album on 2-inch at Newry's Analogue Catalogue Studios, leaving a distinctively raw, unvarnished and old-school stamp on Lemoncello.

On songs like ‘Sunflower’ and ‘Harsh Truths’, they let the seams show, each section finding its own distinct atmosphere with ghostly harmonies and bluesy Appalachian gradients. They switch gears on standout track 'Dopamine', an exploration of deep-fried doomscrolling, sculpted by growling synths and other-worldly acoustics.

Confident and vibrant, Lemoncello is an uncompromising offering that puts every feeling and emotion out in the open. On a grand tour of failed love and disillusion with courtship, the Joycean ‘Michael Furey' and ‘All The Good Men’ channel this honesty unflinchingly with growling acoustics and eerie strings. Wonderful stuff.