Any music act that takes its name from a Pink Floyd song (in this case Echoes, from 1971 album Meddle – the lyric alludes to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner) might just as well set up its stall, stand back, and let the catcalling commence. That's the theory, anyway, but it's one that has clearly bypassed Dublin band Overhead, The Albatross.
Existing on the fringes of cultdom for several years now, with debut album Learning to Growl, the band has created something beyond the usual if-you-like-that-then-you'll-love- this reference points. Sticking to creative guns with such fortitude could have an adverse effect, but the six-piece negotiate the path between instinct, empathy and intransigence with delicacy and attention to detail.
They are helped by the fact that instrumental tracks such as Bara, HBG, Telekinetic Forest Guard, Daeku, Paroxysm, Big River Man, and Indie Rose are lengthy enough to allow boundaries to be stretched to within a millimetre of breaking point.
With a closely calibrated sound that could be described as post-rock if you were especially lazy, the band interweaves progressive coils of electronics, liquid guitar work (courtesy of Luke Daly, Stevie Daragh and Vinny Casey) and a taut rhythm section (Ben Garrett, drums, and Joe Panama, bass) that fuse into widescreen, skyscraping melodies that define the word “bliss”. Indeed, it is the melody lines that glue one end of a piece of music to the other, and like the band they nabbed their name from, there is no end of quicksilver tuneage here.
Factor in ambient vocals (Emilie Daly), strings (viola, violin, cello) and brass (trumpet, trombone, saxophone), and you have a complete layered package that delivers on dynamics, which in turn run parallel with responsive experimentation.
The result is an intuitive blend of psych-influenced rock and numerous staggering sonic declarations.
