Hanging By A Thread

Although definitely not a concept album, there’s a consistency in style and substance running like “a thread” through this Salthouse debut that begs it to be listened to as a complete musical experience rather than picking and mixing tracks at random.

Not that it’s monomoody. The title track, ‘In Your Sights’ and ‘So Long’, with their exquisite indie-folk guitar figures, are attractively effortless, while the more animated ‘Wasted’, the sultrily psychedelic ‘Heard A Sound’ and the torrid ‘No Reflection’ show that they can take Stephen Colfer’s songs and give them a good night out too.

Using a basic rock band approach dressed up as required with synths, programming and even a glockenspiel, Salthouse have crafted an album that’s uncannily focused for a first effort. Exhibiting a maturity beyond their years they instinctively know when to leave some space in the mix. With tracks like ‘In A Place’ and ‘Am I Now?’ they marry exquisite lyrics to beguiling soundscapes strewn with hypnotic melodies. On most tracks, especially the quirky instrumental ‘Demo No 2’, each note seems to have been measured and weighed before being placed with fond precision exactly where it was born to be.

It still remains to be seen whether the economics that have allowed the explosion on the independent local solo front can transfer to new Irish bands, but Salthouse from far-out Fethard have set their own ball rolling with a fine piece of work recorded in their own studios and released on their own label. Not since Cry Before Dawn well over a decade ago has a rock band from the south-east showed such confident promise. Let’s hope they hang on by more than a thread.