Adrian Crowley — Dark Eyed Messenger (Oct. 27, 2017) |
Adrian Crowley — Dark Eyed Messenger (Oct. 27, 2017) Ξ•Π•Ξ “Používáním jednoduchých obrysů místo podrobných, expresivních obrazů, nechávám posluchačovu fantazii, aby přišla na zbytek sama. Je to něco, co jsem si zvykl dělat v průběhu času, kde jsem hledal ekonomii ve všem. I tam, kde jsem chtěl říct nebo napsat něco tak, aby to nebylo trvalé samo o sobě, ale vytvářelo něco jiného ve vaší mysli. Nevím. Svým způsobem se mi líbí představa něčeho, co přichází k životu až ve vaší fantazii..., a to právě z podnětu slov a hudby dohromady. Vytvářím pohybující se obraz nebo pocit v hlavě, ale nejsem si nutně vědom úplného dopadu těchto slov, když s tím vycházím nevenek. Někdy se něco nečekaného může dostat do cesty přes popisné pasáže Je to jako když se toho ukazuje příliš mnoho..., jako kniha s příliš mnoha obrázky; nemůžete si vytvořit svůj vlastní obraz o tom, co čtete.”
Ξ•Π•Ξ Maltese~born, Irish~raised singer/songwriter with a moody, introspective tone.
Born: 1968, Sliema, Malta
Location: Dublin, Leinster ~ Connacht, Galway City Council, Ireland
Notable instruments: Epiphone Riviera, Fender Telecaster
Album release: October 27, 2017
Recording date: 2013, 2014
Record Label: Chemikal Underground
Duration: 45:32
Tracks:
01 The Wish 4:50
02 Halfway to Andulacia 3:11
03 Silver Birch Tree 3:07
04 Little Breath 3:55
05 Valley of Tears 5:07
06 The Photographs 5:57
07 Unhappy Seamstress 4:50
08 Catherine in the Dunes 3:16
09 Lullaby to a Lost Astronaut 4:34
10 And So Goes the Night 3:02
11 Still This Desire 3:42
Review
Olaf Tyaransen/Album: 10 Oct 2017 / Score: 8
Brilliant effort from Irish~singer songwriter
•Π• Since his 1999 debut A Strange Kind, Adrian Crowley has built an enviable reputation as a songwriter’s songwriter, a natural born storyteller with a rich and beguiling baritone. While his work can sometimes be easier to admire than it is to love, the Malta~born/Irish~raised artist has enjoyed considerable success’ 2009’s Season Of The Sparks won the Choice Prize, and he has been nominated on another two occasions.
•Π• Dark Eyed Messenger is Crowley’s eighth album, his fourth with uber~hip Scottish indie label Chemikal Underground. It’s his great gift to write songs that sound as though they’ve always existed, and he just somehow picked them out of the ether. Recorded over four days in the New York studio of The Gloaming’s Thomas ‘Doveman’ Bartlett (who has worked with the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Magnetic Fields and Martha Wainwright), this album features 11 unhurried tracks.
•Π• At Bartlett’s suggestion, the songs were recorded without Crowley’s trademark guitar. Most of them feature piano, organ or Mellotron, resulting in a minimalist array of dream~like, ethereal sounds. It’s a strange, captivating diversion.
•Π• Most of the lyrics would work as standalone poems. On the spooky ‘Unhappy Seamstress’, he sings, “First a sigh and then a curse/ Her sewing machine in reverse/ Followed by familiar clicking/ As she begins the unpicking/ And what of this frayed tapestry of mine?” It sounds uncannily like a Lou Reed song.
•Π• ‘The Photographs’ is a mini~masterpiece, a series of old snapshots from Crowley’s peripatetic life, which plays like a short story: “And see here/ The view of the park through the grilled hospital window Upper East Side/ Where I spent the week at your side/ On a makeshift bed/ Until your release”.
•Π• Crowley is not the kind of artist you’re ever going to hear on daytime radio. But that hardly matters. Lovers of great songwriting will recognise the sound of a true artist at work here.
Ξ http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/
Boomkat Product Review:
•Π• Dublin based Adrian Crowley returns with his eighth studio album and follow up to 2014’s ‘Some Blue Morning’.
•Π• “Recorded in four days in May 2016 in Thomas Bartlett’s New Yorkstudio, the record captures not merely Crowley at the apex of his songwriting powersbut also the creative lava that can flow when two perfectly aligned musical minds come together.
•Π• American producer and musician Bartlett, aka Doveman, has worked with an array of artists such as Sufjan Stevens, Martha Wainwright, The Magnetic Fields and Anna Calvi. Bartlett’s contribution to ‘Dark Eyed Messenger’ is variously unsettling, comforting and effervescent, eliciting a sweeping array of dream~like sounds and deployingdissonance where the listener might least expect it. The result is an immersive record that inhabits a world of dusk, dreams and desire.
•Π• Evoking fragments of such diverse works as ‘A Walk Across The Rooftops’ by The Blue Nile and ‘Deserter’s Songs’ by Mercury Rev, ‘Dark Eyed Messenger’ sounds like it took ten times as long to make as it did, an illusion that is testament to the strength of thepartnership that forged it. While crowned as ever with Crowley’s mahoganied baritone, ‘Dark Eyed Messenger’ is the artist’s first set untouched by the instrument with which he is most associated, guitar. The striking cover art for ‘Dark Eyed Messenger’ comes courtesy of Galway~based visual artist Louise Manifold.”
•Π• https://boomkat.com/
Discography:
• Adrian Crowley has released eight albums.
Ξ A Strange Kind (1999)
Ξ When You Are Here You Are Family (2002)
Ξ A Northern Country (2004)
Ξ Long Distance Swimmer (2007)
Ξ Season of the Sparks (2009)
Ξ I See Three Birds Flying (2012)
Ξ Some Blue Morning (November 10th, 2014)
Ξ Dark Eyed Messenger (2017)
Bandcamp: http://adriancrowley.bandcamp.com/
Website: http://www.adriancrowley.com/
MySpace: https://myspace.com/adriancrowley
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adrian.crowley.5
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adrian-Crowley/1497023113844535
INTERVIEW, Written by: Ian Maleney: http://totallydublin.ie/music/music-features/the-simple-fact-of-loving-to-tell-a-story-adrian-crowley-interviewed/
℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗
Adrian Crowley — Dark Eyed Messenger (Oct. 27, 2017) |
Adrian Crowley — Dark Eyed Messenger (Oct. 27, 2017) Ξ•Π•Ξ “Používáním jednoduchých obrysů místo podrobných, expresivních obrazů, nechávám posluchačovu fantazii, aby přišla na zbytek sama. Je to něco, co jsem si zvykl dělat v průběhu času, kde jsem hledal ekonomii ve všem. I tam, kde jsem chtěl říct nebo napsat něco tak, aby to nebylo trvalé samo o sobě, ale vytvářelo něco jiného ve vaší mysli. Nevím. Svým způsobem se mi líbí představa něčeho, co přichází k životu až ve vaší fantazii..., a to právě z podnětu slov a hudby dohromady. Vytvářím pohybující se obraz nebo pocit v hlavě, ale nejsem si nutně vědom úplného dopadu těchto slov, když s tím vycházím nevenek. Někdy se něco nečekaného může dostat do cesty přes popisné pasáže Je to jako když se toho ukazuje příliš mnoho..., jako kniha s příliš mnoha obrázky; nemůžete si vytvořit svůj vlastní obraz o tom, co čtete.”
Ξ•Π•Ξ Maltese~born, Irish~raised singer/songwriter with a moody, introspective tone.
Born: 1968, Sliema, Malta
Location: Dublin, Leinster ~ Connacht, Galway City Council, Ireland
Notable instruments: Epiphone Riviera, Fender Telecaster
Album release: October 27, 2017
Recording date: 2013, 2014
Record Label: Chemikal Underground
Duration: 45:32
Tracks:
01 The Wish 4:50
02 Halfway to Andulacia 3:11
03 Silver Birch Tree 3:07
04 Little Breath 3:55
05 Valley of Tears 5:07
06 The Photographs 5:57
07 Unhappy Seamstress 4:50
08 Catherine in the Dunes 3:16
09 Lullaby to a Lost Astronaut 4:34
10 And So Goes the Night 3:02
11 Still This Desire 3:42
Review
Olaf Tyaransen/Album: 10 Oct 2017 / Score: 8
Brilliant effort from Irish~singer songwriter
•Π• Since his 1999 debut A Strange Kind, Adrian Crowley has built an enviable reputation as a songwriter’s songwriter, a natural born storyteller with a rich and beguiling baritone. While his work can sometimes be easier to admire than it is to love, the Malta~born/Irish~raised artist has enjoyed considerable success’ 2009’s Season Of The Sparks won the Choice Prize, and he has been nominated on another two occasions.
•Π• Dark Eyed Messenger is Crowley’s eighth album, his fourth with uber~hip Scottish indie label Chemikal Underground. It’s his great gift to write songs that sound as though they’ve always existed, and he just somehow picked them out of the ether. Recorded over four days in the New York studio of The Gloaming’s Thomas ‘Doveman’ Bartlett (who has worked with the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Magnetic Fields and Martha Wainwright), this album features 11 unhurried tracks.
•Π• At Bartlett’s suggestion, the songs were recorded without Crowley’s trademark guitar. Most of them feature piano, organ or Mellotron, resulting in a minimalist array of dream~like, ethereal sounds. It’s a strange, captivating diversion.
•Π• Most of the lyrics would work as standalone poems. On the spooky ‘Unhappy Seamstress’, he sings, “First a sigh and then a curse/ Her sewing machine in reverse/ Followed by familiar clicking/ As she begins the unpicking/ And what of this frayed tapestry of mine?” It sounds uncannily like a Lou Reed song.
•Π• ‘The Photographs’ is a mini~masterpiece, a series of old snapshots from Crowley’s peripatetic life, which plays like a short story: “And see here/ The view of the park through the grilled hospital window Upper East Side/ Where I spent the week at your side/ On a makeshift bed/ Until your release”.
•Π• Crowley is not the kind of artist you’re ever going to hear on daytime radio. But that hardly matters. Lovers of great songwriting will recognise the sound of a true artist at work here.
Ξ http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/
Boomkat Product Review:
•Π• Dublin based Adrian Crowley returns with his eighth studio album and follow up to 2014’s ‘Some Blue Morning’.
•Π• “Recorded in four days in May 2016 in Thomas Bartlett’s New Yorkstudio, the record captures not merely Crowley at the apex of his songwriting powersbut also the creative lava that can flow when two perfectly aligned musical minds come together.
•Π• American producer and musician Bartlett, aka Doveman, has worked with an array of artists such as Sufjan Stevens, Martha Wainwright, The Magnetic Fields and Anna Calvi. Bartlett’s contribution to ‘Dark Eyed Messenger’ is variously unsettling, comforting and effervescent, eliciting a sweeping array of dream~like sounds and deployingdissonance where the listener might least expect it. The result is an immersive record that inhabits a world of dusk, dreams and desire.
•Π• Evoking fragments of such diverse works as ‘A Walk Across The Rooftops’ by The Blue Nile and ‘Deserter’s Songs’ by Mercury Rev, ‘Dark Eyed Messenger’ sounds like it took ten times as long to make as it did, an illusion that is testament to the strength of thepartnership that forged it. While crowned as ever with Crowley’s mahoganied baritone, ‘Dark Eyed Messenger’ is the artist’s first set untouched by the instrument with which he is most associated, guitar. The striking cover art for ‘Dark Eyed Messenger’ comes courtesy of Galway~based visual artist Louise Manifold.”
•Π• https://boomkat.com/
Discography:
• Adrian Crowley has released eight albums.
Ξ A Strange Kind (1999)
Ξ When You Are Here You Are Family (2002)
Ξ A Northern Country (2004)
Ξ Long Distance Swimmer (2007)
Ξ Season of the Sparks (2009)
Ξ I See Three Birds Flying (2012)
Ξ Some Blue Morning (November 10th, 2014)
Ξ Dark Eyed Messenger (2017)
Bandcamp: http://adriancrowley.bandcamp.com/
Website: http://www.adriancrowley.com/
MySpace: https://myspace.com/adriancrowley
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adrian.crowley.5
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adrian-Crowley/1497023113844535
INTERVIEW, Written by: Ian Maleney: http://totallydublin.ie/music/music-features/the-simple-fact-of-loving-to-tell-a-story-adrian-crowley-interviewed/
℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗ΞΞΞΞΞΞ℗