Hell to Pay

The Hothouse Flowers were never totally convincing as hard men of rock, but the union of that band’s guitarist Fiachna O Braonain and drummer Dave Clarke with Pogue/Radiator Cáit O’Riordan on bass is a way meatier affair. The music might not suit fans of the Flowers’ hippy soul, and there’s little Poguetry on offer either – but the bottom line is that it’s good.
What you get is raunchy rock with slashing guitars. On the blustering ‘Ace of Hearts’, PreNup evoke a raunchy Neil Young, harmonies and all. ‘Say Goodbye’ has impressively flailing guitars and ‘Leave It All Behind’ is attractively ragged. While they mostly strive for an uptempo American AOR feel, there are a couple of ballads, with ‘Firefighter’ slugging it out to fine effect. ‘Wedding Ring’ is a genuine gut-wrencher and the anthemic ‘Technicolor’ has hints of U2. If the record has an Achilles heel it’s an occasional lack of power in the vocals – indeed O’Riordan’s supporting contributions suggest that her voice might have been more gainfully employed.
On this evidence, PreNup deserves to be more than a casual fling, but menages a troi don’t always work out.
Key Track: 'Ace of Hearts'