JJ72

Ireland has long been the home of back-breaking begrudgery and sod-throwing drudgery, and it seems the present generation are no exception.

Dublin three-piece JJ72, darlings of the English media for some time, have been suffering a backlash on websites and letters pages (including this very mag) in their home country of late, the majority of it unjustified.

Who gives a flying fuck that Mark, Fergal and Hillary are from middle-class Ireland – is there an unwritten law that says rock bands have to experience hardship to be somehow worthy? Try telling that to Blur, Travis, Neil Hannon and a million other bands.

Others have been downgrading them because of comments made in interviews. Maybe I’m being naïve, but surely they should be judged on their music, and not their performance in the media circus. And so to the debut album.

They have the perfect opening to any LP in the shape of the magnificent ‘October Swimmer’. Fergal’s drums smash and grab, Hillary’s bass keeps pace without ever being fussy, and Mark launches a double assault with his burning guitar and Himalayan vocal acrobatics – not that he yodels, he just screams for the heights.

Their other singles are all present and correct, from the adolescent plea of ‘Snow’, a massive hit on Dublin’s discerning pirate stations, to current chart smash and MTV favourite, ‘Oxygen’.

The brilliant ‘Long Way South’ is all insistent percussion, scorching guitar and infectious chorus, and still weighs in at under three minutes, while ‘Algeria’ is surely a single in waiting, a thunderous, pulsating affair that allows them to really get jiggy with it.

When they slow things down, JJ72 are a far cry from their reputation as indie brats. ‘Willow’ is an acoustic affair, string section and all, that lets Mark concentrate on his vocal duties and ends up quite haunting as a result, and ‘Not Like You’ has a kind of fairytale innocence that suits Greaney’s sometimes childlike vocals perfectly.

‘Broken Down’ sees Mark doing his best Jeff Buckley impersonation, and while not bad, it wears its influences a little too brazenly for these ears. The only real lowlight is the mid-paced ‘Surrender’, which sees the band operating on autopilot.

That apart, JJ72 have produced an accomplished, exciting debut that confirms the promise of their single releases to date, and should form the foundation for even greater things in the future.