Land Lovers/Windings: Split album (Popical Island/Out on a LImb Records, 2014)

Los irlandeses Land Lovers acaban de publicar un álbum compartido con Windings, otra banda paisana. Ambas graban para sellos diferentes: Popical Island, en el caso de los primeros (de hecho son sus propietarios) y Out on a Limb, en el caso de los segundos.
El Pop desenfadado y deshinbido de Land Lovers vuelve a tomar aquí forma de nuevo. Todo un monumento al C86, a gentes como Stephen Malkmus, Jonathan Ritchman y a gentes que, de alguna manera, van de anti-estrellas.

El sonido de Windings es mucho más pausado y relajado, una especie de actualización de la música de Neil Young y sus Crazy Horse. En verdad, la unión del sonido de los dos grupos no tiene mucho que ver y ni siquiera tienen demasiados nexos en común para compartir un disco. Pero el hecho es que ahí está. En la variedad está el gusto…

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“Land Lovers meanwhile are one of the bands spearheading Popical Island’s rise to Irish indie’s top table and they kick off their side with the single ‘Vittima di Cucina’, a full-throttle collision of Denim, Shonen Knife and early REM. Continuing with the intelligent songwriting that marked their previous album Confidants, ‘Vittima di Cucina’ opens the latest Land Lovers’ release with its foot firmly to the floor. Six more (mostly) brief pop incidents follow as Land Lovers deliver their most tuneful, up-front set to date” (Press)

“This is the first new windings’ material since the release of their Choice Music Prize nominated album, I Am Not The Crow. The 5-piece have spent the intervening time gigging in Ireland and the UK and writing the tracks that will be part of a new windings’ release later in the year. Lead single ‘Neverwood’ zips along with a sparse verse before kicking in with some sci-fi Joey Santiagoesque guitar in a big chorus. windings are at their best throughout, with all five parts of the machine pulling in the same dynamic direction” (Press)

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Land Lovers: Confidants (2011)

En estos tiempos, concebir un disco bajo patrones de un Pop de escuela, del de antes, del Pop influenciado por gentes tan ilustres como Ray Davies o el mismo Elvis Costello, puede resultar una temeridad, viendo los movimientos musicales y sonoros que actualmente están en boga. Para los que las modas nos importan un pimiento, como a nosotros o a estos chicos irlandeses llamados Land Lovers, ésto no es un inconveniente, sino más bien un estímulo. Confidants es un disco de Pop luminoso, muy luminoso, si queremos. Un disco que rebosa positividad y buenas vibraciones por todos sus surcos (si los hubiera). Un álbum que no tiene reparos en mencionar explicitamente al genio Ray (Terry & Julie), o en hacer guiños a gentes más contemporáneas como a los Blur de Modern Life is Rubbish (Is nowhere far away anymore?) u Olivia Tremor Control o Neutral Milk Hotel. Como en su caso, Land Lovers son los artífices y los promotores del sello para el que graban, un colectivo llamado Popical Island. Les podéis echar un oído y disfrutar de este Confidants en su Bandcamp.

Land Lovers – Confidants (2011)

“On this album, Land Lovers find themselves a rich pop style. Pádraig Cooney had an idea to write tunes that could conceivably be heard at the family sing-songs that he was subjected to throughout life, i.e. Rogers & Hammerstein numbers and other popular sounds of the 50s and early 60s. The Kinks, Neutral Milk Hotel and Lionel Bart’s Oliver! songs got mixed up somewhere (Is Nowhere Far Away Anymore?). Some songs have residues of the clean twin-guitars of Television (Life’s Work, Terry & Julie, Born in Armour). Ciarán Canavan was probably listening to Phoenix and Blur along the way (The Cinema Bell). Mostly, the songs led the arrangements and they ended up in places of their own choosing: sticking to an idea is not valued highly by Land Lovers.
Death and secrecy are the major themes, and they intertwine throughout. In The Pocket Orchestra’s Death Song, the protagonist’s loneliness and guilt is brought into focus by the death of his grandmother. Terry & Julieis the story of a dying man with Waterloo Sunset stuck in his head, pondering the gulf he perceives between his wife (who confides in God) and himself (who, lacking a confidant, dreams about the happy couple). Meanwhile, an elderly curmudgeon imagines a wilderness where he can escape from the infernal youths of the civilised world to breathe his last in peace (Is Nowhere Far Away Anymore?). There is also time for the discovery of songs on childhood holidays (As Low as Possible); superhuman teachers (Born in Armour); the strange courting rituals of humans (Legion of Saps); and the decline of a relationship between a football nerd and a Pole (Gravedigger)” (Press)

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