CD OF THE WEEK: PORT O'BRIEN,All We Could Do Was Sing, City Slang ****
For most bands, the first single from an impending album is many things: a calling card, a sonic snapshot of what you're about, an aural swatch snipped off the corner as a sample of what's to come.
Port O'Brien have no truck with this. Having reeled us in with the radio-crack that is I Woke Up Today, they could be accused of false advertising - but in the best possible way.
Anyone expecting rousing group vocals and foot-stomping anthems from start to finish will be pleasantly surprised at the crest and troughs of moods and tempos here. Musically, Port O'Brien are a co-operative, but one that pivots around the sea-soaked stories of main songwriter Van Pierszalowski.
There's no shortage of musicians (Adrian Crowley, for one) who have peered to the horizon and saltwater in between for inspiration, but Pierszalowski has actually lived the life, working with his fisherman father every summer in Alaska.
Stuck on a Boat, a slow-build of stabbed guitar chords and percussion, charts the roving ups (creativity) and downs (boredom) of boat life, but it's songs such as the picked acoustics and cello of Fisherman's Sonthat showcase Van's lyrical flair.
There's a hint of Hemingway in these one-man-and-the sea stories, as landscape and nature flit through the veins of many tracks. Valdez, the crackly closer, even offers an environmental plea to Exxon.
The pastoral/nautical shanties are just one line of enquiry, but ultimately the songs tackle life and friendship. Pierszalowski's slightly croaky timbre is suited to telling folk tales, but he can propel it in other directions, and there's a vocal nod to Black Francis on Pigeonhole. It's one of the few moments - along with The Rooftop Songand I Woke Up Today- where the band rouse themselves from their cabin fever and kick up a storm.
Picked acoustic guitars are a hallmark throughout, but banjos bustle in occasionally and soaring strings are used with caution to great effect. Cambria Goodwin's lovely countrified lilt is slightly underexposed, but it's a minor quibble: All We Could Do Was Singis full of hopeful, heartfelt flotsam - let it wash over you.
[ www.portobrien.comOpens in new window ]
SINÉAD GLEESON
Download tracks: I Woke Up Today, Fisherman's Son, Pigeonhole
