Squarehead | BARRYGRUFF

It’s competition time again. There are two pairs of tickets for the Kildare leg of the FMC Tour with Squarehead, The Lost Brothers and We Cut Corners up for grabs. It’s all happening in The Late Lounge, Kill, this Friday, November 9th, with the local support from White McKenzie.

To be in with a chance there are no silly questions, just email your name to barrygruff [at] gmail [dot] com with ‘FMC Tour 2012’ as the subject title. Winners will be drawn at random and the competition closes at 12:00 on, Thursday, November 8th 2012.

It promises to be a really great show with three of the finest acts in Ireland sharing the same bill, all of which have featured quite a bit on the blog. If that’s not enough of a ringing endorsement, there’s plenty of choice cuts from the bands playing below, in case you need further persuasion.

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Dublin trio Squarehead received plenty of praise for their singles ‘Midnight Enchilada’ and ‘Fake Blood’, and rightly so. Those singles suggested Squarehead had a knack for three minute pop songs, something bornout on Yeah Nothing. They roll through a succession of snappy sun soaked indie pop songs, forging a balance between beautiful vocal harmonies and a rougher-edged garage rock.

Any of the 12 tracks could be singles. The feel-good nature and simplicity of the aforementioned singles and tracks like ‘Save Yourself’, ‘Tasty Fruit’ and ‘Fear Your Face’ illustrates their strength for 3-minute 60’s inspired guitar pop. It flips between the melancholic and beautiful with more ooh-ahhs than you can shake a stick at without ever feeling forced or misplaced. This while remaining ridiculously catchy and retaining the dreamy, laid-back vibes too. Lead singer Roy Duffy’s voice is the icing on the cake, the soothing and wistful vocal qualities make for a rather special listen.

If there’s a criticism, it is that they don’t step out they’re comfort zone often enough but it is a very assured debut LP which coming in at 36 minutes is charming, fun and most important of all it is likable. If Ireland had a summer, a season filled days and blazing heat, then Squarehead’s Yeah Nothing would be it’s unrivaled soundtrack.

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Squarehead – Fake Blood via IASCA