Blood And Bones

Louth-native SJ McArdle draws on a variety of influences, from Nick Cave to Celtic folk to vintage rock. He’s off to a determined start with opener ‘Chin Up’, its positive lyric underpinned by a solid groove. The title track gives free rein to McArdle’s dark tones, blending banjo, synths, a female gospel chorus, fiddles and funk tempos. On ‘At The Same Time’ he evokes A House’s ‘Endless Art’ in the spoken part, while the ghost of the aforementioned Mr. Cave hovers around the piano-led ‘Spins Like This’. McArdle gets well folksy on ‘Mercy Now’, while ‘Turn The World’ has a Talking Heads-esque relentlessness. Bravo for an artist who has taken contemporary Irish music to parts it far too seldom reaches.