Two wonderful covers such as “Dearg Doom” (Horslips) and “Street Jammer” (MANILLAROAD) make this album something that can't be missed. It’s really the time to say it again… BUY OR DIE!
Canadian singer-songwriter Emm Gryner, who has worked and toured with David Bowie, Curtis Mayfield and Rufus Wainwright, is on tour in Ireland all this week. Her latest album, 'Songs of Love and Death', reflects her interest in her Irish roots and features her own takes on classics of the Irish canon - songs by the likes of Ash, The Undertones, The Virgin Prunes and Gilbert O'Sullivan.
Canadian songwriter Emm Gryner has released a covers album of Irish rock classics. But what inspired her to tackle Horslips, The Undertones and Gilbert O'Sullivan?
Songs Of Love And Death offers her singular take on an eclectic selection of numbers, including Something Happens’ gem ‘Forget Georgia’, the Virgin Prunes’ ‘Bau – Dachong’, Ash’s ‘Shining Light’ and Therapy?’s ‘Nowhere’.
She has also re-interpreted better known songs like Gilbert O’Sullivan’s ‘Nothing Rhymed’, The Corrs' ‘Breathless’ and Horslips' ‘Dearg Doom’.
How did it all come about?
“Well, I’m part Irish, though no-one really knows that,” she laughs. “My mum’s Filipino, which takes care of my appearance, but my grandmother is from here.”
Having visited this country on several occasions, she was eager to show the wider world that Irish music goes further than traditional airs.
“I run my own record label, so I decided to do an album of Irish covers. A lot of people thought it would be traditional songs. It’s kinda cool to be able to say, ‘No that’s not what Irish music is all about.’”
She hasn’t gone for the more obvious choices. There are no U2, Cranberries or Van Morrison songs. Presumably, this was a conscious decision?
“I tend to relate to bands in Canada who are just popular in Canada,” Emm explains. “I wanted to cover some bands who are big in Ireland but not anywhere else.”
To this end, she sought out collections of contemporary Irish music.
“I listened to Tom Dunne’s compilations. They were a great help. And I asked every Irish person I know to enlighten me. Gerry Leonard (ex-Hinterland, now Bowie’s guitarist) turned me onto Thin Lizzy, who I’d known about but not a lot.”
Some of her treatments might raise eyebrows. Her bass-heavy take on ‘Dearg Doom’, for example, is markedly different from the one we’re familiar with.
“There were a few people who thought it should be left off the album because it’s such an anthem here. But I thought it was a fabulous song and I tend to work in a way that I don’t think about the outcome.”
Horslips were generally positive about her reading of the track.
“I thought Eamon Carr wouldn’t approve of the drum machine, but he was cool about it.”
As for Gilbert O'Sullivan, is Gryner a fan?
“The first version of ‘Nothing Rhymed' I heard was actually on a Morrissey bootleg," she smiles. "He’d performed it live and I thought, ‘What a great song’.”
Singer-songwriter Emm Gryner hails from Canada, but she looks to the Emerald Isle for inspiration on Songs Of Love And Death, interpreting material from an eclectic mix of Irish acts.
The end results are rather hit-and-miss. There are a handful of forgettable mis-steps – maudlin piano versions of The Corrs’ ‘Breathless’ and Ash’s ‘Shining Light’ strip the originals of their pop dynamism, while Gryner’s slight-but-pretty voice lacks the depth and darkness to withstand the violent, gothic churn of The Virgin Prunes’ ‘Bau – Dachong’.
There is also plenty to enjoy on the album, though. A classy vocal performance, and some sprightly programming inject much-needed personality into The Thrills’ ‘Deckchairs And Cigarettes’ (that old expression about silk purses and sows’ ears springs to mind), while her rendition of Horslips’ ‘Dearg Doom’ replaces the original’s legendary guitar riff with some creepy, breathing-over-your-shoulder organ, removing any traces of rock bluster and adding a twisted PJ Harvery-esque menace. Elsewhere, Gryner plays up the melodic qualities in Therapy?’s ‘Nowhere’, re-casting it as a languid, campfire singalong.
Kilian Murphy
Rating: 6 / 10
This one goes to eleven.
...that is until local punk act NICE'N'SLEEZY got us back on our feet with a hugely sucsessful opening slot at willie ramblers (with much help from john moffat!!),and thanx to mr. sleezy we recieved our first paypacket.I admire their take on 'band photos' here
since then allainces forged with sope founder Tom Johnson mean that the wacth have a secure future in skintown and will be playin many gigs for some time to come.
And now for the last part of the history which isnt realy history the watch got a 3rd guitarest and it happened sortly after we got shane donegan to help us out at practice which means he just sat on is ass, ate cake and watched us, anyway we then asked him would he join the band, luckily he accepted and the new Watchman was official.
