Latest CD releases reviewed
JODAVINO
Deep End Make and Do Records **
There's no rule about family members in a band toeing the same musical line, but listening to Cork band Jodavino a picture of opposites emerges. Brother and sister Joe and Aoibheann Carey share vocals on a debut that develops a schism that affects every track. When Joe sings, we could be listening to the laid-back ramblings of Will Oldham, and he seems drawn to creating something edgy and memorable. Aoibheann's vocals have a shimmering range (Over and Above) but it's mostly too polished for the music. This odd clash sounds like two talented people who should be in different bands. Lurching from alt-country (Summer Strong) to unemotive pop standards (High and Tall) is like gate-crashing a different record. It unsettles and falls short of what they're capable of. Ideas and potential lurk here, but on Deep End, they just don't match up. www.jodavino.com Sinéad Gleeson
THE VEILS
Nox Vomica Rough Trade ****
The Veils are built around New Zealand-based Finn Andrews. He's kept the band name despite changing all personnel from their well-received 2004 debut, The Runaway Found. It's a Divine Comedy thing, but that's the only similarity with Neil Hannon. This is a brooding record that recalls all the best bits of modern rock's dark corners. Nick Cave is an over-arching influence; there is an obsession with life, death and redemption among the stabbing violins and background yelps. Just in case you miss the Birthday Party/Bad Seeds references, there is one track called The Birthday Present. It's not about ribbons and bright paper. Andrews also has the welcome pitch and wail of Jack White - something many aim for, but few attain. This fretting, menacing and restless album is the sound of old-school gothic fantastically re-imagined. www.theveils.com Paul McNamee
ELEANOR MCEVOY
Out There RMG ***
Close harmonies, loose-limbed bluegrass, white girl blues and a whole lotta passable pop: Eleanor McEvoy's latest collection is a motley one: swinging from the highs of the down-home newgrass of Suffer So Well to the Beautiful South-esque Little Look, McEvoy still surprises with her jagged-edged personality that celebrates rather than suppresses dissonance. It's a brave soul who'll offer a distinctive interpretation of Marvin Gaye's perfect Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology), but she swings it by stripping it back to its core. Musically inventive and ever-curious, it's the lyrical lines that let her down sometimes. Non Smoking Single Female might be laden with radio-friendly hooks, but its wordplay is pedestrian, and devoid of the condensed wit its title conjures up. www.eleanormcevoy.com Siobhán Long
LEANNE HARTE
Leanne Harte Emanon Records **
There haven't been too many Irish women brave or foolhardy enough to want to take up the hard rock gauntlet thrown down by traditional rockers such as Ian Gillan, Robert Plant and Phil Lynott. Whether it's deemed plain unseemly for a woman to strike Ye Olde Cocke Rocke poses or whether it's simply as basic a reason as most people not buying into it, women and old-fashioned hard rock do not happy bedfellows make. And so to Leanne Harte, a young Irish woman who claims to settle any arguments on the subject; the trouble here is that, while enthusiasm accounts for a lot, the lack of killer songs means that, ultimately, she flounders in a quagmire of cliche, over-familiarity and a marked lack of originality. The somewhat OTT press release has it that Harte is "a punk, a folkie, a rocker, a blues lady, a country gal . . . retro . . . contemporary . . . alternative." Enough, already - the music speaks for itself, and unfortunately it doesn't say too much. www.leanneharte.com Tony Clayton-Lea
ANDY FAIRWEATHER-LOW
Sweet Soulful Music Proper *****
Twenty-six years ago British singer, writer and guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low released the wonderfully tongue-tripping and melody-rich Mega Shebang, the fifth of his excellent solo albums. And then nothing. Through the years he turned up armed with a guitar on a couple of sessions and played back-up to Eric Clapton, but of himself nothing. Now 58, he returns with this typically subtle and warm collection of seasoned songs, played with verve and a great touch by Low and a small, sharp band under the baton of veteran producer Glyn Johns. Fairweather-Low has one of the great voices of British music - a distinctive hazy, bluesy blur that seems in danger of not making the notes but always does. Add to that his penchant for writing gorgeously understated pop songs in the American electric roots tradition of soul and blues and you've a gem waiting to be rediscovered. www.proper-records.co.uk Joe Breen
JUSTINE ELECTRA
Soft Rock City Slang ***
An Australian expat based in Berlin, Justine Electra happily reconciles her folksy, acoustic side with her electro-tek leanings, coming across like a witches' brew of Aimee Mann, Peaches, CocoRosie and Jim Noir. Leading off with the playfully wistful single Fancy Robots, Electra charms you into sticking around through the mock-vulnerable Killalady, the childlike Mom + Dad + Me and the swamp-tramping Blues and Reds. Acoustic guitar forms the bedrock of her offbeat tunes, but the mechanical noises and vintage sci-fi electronics add a weird dimension to initially ordinary sounding songs (My Best Friend, Motorhome, Railroad Baby, Defiant & Proud). Completing the surreal picture is a ballsy sexual streak, mischievously exhibited in the X-rated lyrics of President (of the Canyon). Fancy that. www.justineelectra.com Kevin Courtney
MYSLOVITZ
Happiness Is Easy Fifa Records ***
Named after the industrial town in Poland where they were formed, Myslovitz are soundtracking the Polish diaspora in much the same way U2 united the scattered Irish identity in the 1980s. With 200,000 Poles now living in Ireland, it's inevitable that the country's top-selling band will be playing Irish dates later this month - they've already played Oxegen and a sold-out date at Dublin's Village. Happiness Is Easy is sung entirely in Polish, so I haven't a clue what singer Artur Rojek is on about, but it's clear that Myslovitz know their way around the rock'n'roll landscape and can deliver big, guitar-heavy anthems with the best of them. The guitar work in particular has a flow and grace that many post-Coldplay bands would envy. Myslovitz are planning to re-record the album in English; though it all sounds exotic and clever in Polish, it'll probably translate into the usual disappointing stadium rock cliches. www.myslovitz.pl Kevin Courtney
