Anything that reminds me of Mike Scott and the mighty Waterboys can only be a good thing, right? Quite right. Okay, it might be a tenuous and lazy comparison to make, but so few tracks pass my way these days that seem to wander the same sonic territory as this illustrious and iconic outfit that I will take such links where I find them. And it is easy to find them in this latest single from Lusitanian Ghosts.
And which sonic territory am I talking about? Well, a place where the deftness and delicacy of folk music meet the integrity of rock and the immediacy of pop. Where the music is adventurous and infectious and also has something to say. I might not exactly know what it is trying to say, something about killing the president of the USA perhaps but there is something in the language and lyric from which it is crafted that is appealing and it certainly isn’t banging on about the usual mainstream pop pap, …boy texts girl, boy meets girl, boy cheats on girl, boy writes a song to try and justify his pitiless ways. Soul Deranium offers so much more and I’m grateful for it.
Mandolins….or at least something sounding mandolin-like… chime in unison, the bass pulses and pops, beats are gentle and beatific, the lyrics are vague and beguiling and there is even a few Mike Scott-esque woos and whoops to get the song over the finishing line.
What’s not to like? What indeed?
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[…] if Soul Deranium had me drawing comparisons with The Waterboys sonic captain, The Mighty Mike Scott, to give him his […]
[…] comes front-loaded with the two recent singles, the frantic folk and Waterboys-meets-T-Rex vibe of Soul Deranium and the gentle and heart-aching ballad that is Never Less Than Lonely. Once you get past that you […]