Album review: Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon

TOMORROW sees the release of The Trees, The Sea in a Lunar Stream, the debut album by the Nottingham based, Galway duo, Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon.

The band - Aaron Hurley (vocals/guitar ) and Scott McLaughlin (multi-instrumentalist ) - have created an album that is haunting, ethereal, atmospheric, personal, and challenging.

It is clear Talk Talk’s minimalist masterpiece Laughing Stock is a powerful influence on the band. However PDBTM are no mere copyists. Instead they music they love, Talk Talk, Radiohead, and My Bloody Valentine, has encouraged them - and Aaron in particular - to be brave in their songwriting, to use music as a way of navigating and exploring a personal inner world of sound, expression, and reflection, and realising that through the voice and the medium of song.

Taking such a course inevitably produces music that is individual and firmly in the avant-folk/undergound realm. Standout tracks are opener ‘As Perceived By Mice’, ‘Stealing Owls’, and the majestic ‘Two Hours Of Dusk’, distinguished by its descending piano riff.

The eight track album is released by the independent Galway label Rusted Rail and can be ordered from www.rustedrail.com/phantomdog4 html

 

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