THE SLOWEST CLOCK: “Life Still” (Bewildered Records)

WHEN THE Underground was running in Dame Street, I used to go there a lot. The Slowest Clock were regular giggers, and most people expected them to do something. Ah, but it’s strange the fate that befalls so many bands, and The Slowest Clock are no more.

It is an intelligent, carefully crafted album with lyrics that are well above the ordinary. Life Still is about relationships, and about the never-ending search for the reason and purpose of living. The songs manage to deal sensitively and intelligently with such weighty subject matter. The playing – angles of Television in it – of Dave Burke, Gerry Fahy and Brian Nevyn is precise, electric and understated. The singing of Frank Price has a simple authenticity about it, while the lyrics delve for meaning.