Hello World, the debut album by Trevor Gilligan, the producer, songwriter and Fianna Fáil councillor for Clondalkin, Newcastle and Rathcoole, in west Dublin, is, he claims, "unquestionably the best album released in 2017". Gilligan's dance pop is not the best thing to be released this year, but it's also not half as bad as some cynical people might want it to be.
Borrowing sounds from the EDM pop market – Gilligan cites Calvin Harris as an influence – some songs could actually serve a purpose at a Just-Eat-sponsored dancery at Electric Picnic. Destiny's vocals on the dizzying club song Attn are hypnotic, and Samba Man, featuring an unnamed male singer, is exactly how Ricky Martin's Livin' La Vida Loca would sound if it was reimagined by a Clondalkin man in 2017.
A number of the album's vocalists asked to remain anonymous. Making Babies makes for uncomfortable listening, with images of baby bombers appearing in the line: "One hundred thousand million little children dropping from the sky / Makes me realise that I really wanna try".
The first half of HelloWorld is compact and ready to go, but the second half feels unfinished, finally making sense of Fianna Fáil's 2002 slogan: "A lot done. More to do." I give it two stars.
