First Cuts - Trackfour, Skandas, Maranna McCloskey, Jockee, Aaron Smyth

The four-man trackfour from Dublin-Kildare style themselves as an acoustic-based rock band. Their demo Brent In The Attic was co-produced by Graham Hopkins (Halite, Therapy?) and mixed by Karl Odlum and a fine day’s work it’s turned out to be. Trackfour plough a furrow not too far from Hootie’s Blowfish farm and in Jamie Hughes they have a confident singer whose assurance belies his youth. ‘Ten Minutes’ Rest’ settles leisurely into a fluid groove, with excellent harmonies, a catchy chorus (remember them?) and a plaintive break in the middle. The dirge-like ‘Silent Day’ proves that the quality on the first track was no fluke. ‘Illusion’, with its neat guitar figure and excellent organ fills, ups the tempo only slightly and ultimately serves only to make you wish they would vary the pace, the mood and the formula a little more often. A little more time in the basement mixin’ up the medicine might be prescribed, but this is as promising a debut as I’ve heard in a while.
Dublin band Skandas are back with an album of 12 tracks. Because the first commandment of demo listening is “Thou Shalt Only Listen to Three Tracks”, I can only comment on a quarter of it, but it’s enough to show that they could be contenders. Their obvious late sixties/seventies influences now seem more relevant than when they last came by the garage, and the swirling rhythms and shifting arrangement on ‘Hyper’ are thoroughly beguiling. You can buy it now at Tower Records. I’d advise you to do so.
Maranna McCloskey from Derry, and formerly of the band Oige, sticks to the tried and tested approach on her recording of folk-trad songs. On ‘Fraser Island’ she displays a very tuneful and warm vocal style, although the track is too long for a demo. To Dougie McLean’s well-worn ‘Caledonia’ she adds a plaintive flute melody and delivers a solid rendering of the song. ‘Bonny Light Horseman’ continues to deliver in terms of singing quality and accompaniment, but one has to wonder if the world really needs another folk singer doing unimaginative versions of hackneyed songs, no matter how well it’s done?
From deepest darkest Sligo emerge a five-piece mainstream pop-rock band called Jockee. Their influences include the Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2 and Paul Weller, but their overall sound shows virtually no influences from the eighties or nineties, never mind last year. ‘Wasting Away’ has an interesting commercial feel to it, but says nothing new, either lyrically or musically. ‘Wrapped’ is louder and more urgent, almost as if by a different band. It’s solid, well played and well sung, with a fine wah-wahed guitar solo. Perhaps Jockee need to pop out for a few pints and decide whether they want to do or say something new or merely regurgitate the same old clichés forever amen.
Aaron Smyth steps up to the mike and delivers. Smyth is a modern troubadour, a writer of excellent songs with intelligent lyrics inspired by his own observations and who, thankfully, sings in his own voice. He offers two versions of ‘Over Tuesday’, his voice more upfront in the solo version compared to the cheapo-cheapo band version. This song could really sparkle with a more thoughtful arrangement and some sensitive editing.