Irish duo Seafoam Green, released a new album, Martin’s Garden, at the beginning of June that encompasses a whole range of musical styles, whilst ostensibly being under the Americana label. Muireann McDermott Long and Dave O’Grady, now based in Liverpool, have crafted ten tracks that alternate huge danceability with slower, pared back moments, resulting in a fabulously versatile listen.
Leading as they mean to go on, ‘Something to Say‘ roars into life as the first track and will have you dancing your way around the house in no time. Rock and blues propel the song at a frenetic pace but the honky tonk touches, as well as the superb harmonies give this song that something extra. The second track, ‘House on the Hill’, has a similar sound, again with huge danceability.
Just when you think you know where you’re going with Martin’s Garden, Muireann and Dave pull the rug out from under you with a beautiful couple of ballads, ‘Mine, All Mine‘ and ‘Maggie‘. The mellow piano and guitars (Derek Trucks’ slide guitar is truly awesome) over the slower rhythms bewitch and beguile – I could listen to Muireann’s vocals on ‘Maggie’ all day long. This slower pace is revisited again towards the end of the album, having worked through an extremely versatile group of songs Before this however, we have a lighter hearted tone with ‘Swimming in the Paint‘, a jaunty country based song with yet more danceability, and ‘Winter’s Getting Warmer‘, which takes us back to the rockier sound we came in on.
Seafoam Green have given us two pieces of advice, from each band member, firstly Muireann:
“Keep expressing yourself, in whichever form it takes; let boundaries blur and experiments claim coveted time. Aim to see your growth the struggle to create, try to be as unfettered in your creative approach as possible. Use structure and limitations as a suggestion rather than a ruleset – they must be changeable, for as we live, so our interpretation of the world unfolds and morphs and thus our artistic output.”
“Stick to your guns on what you want to say and sound like, don’t follow trends. In the early days I found myself bending my ideas to what the label wanted just so I kept my deal… I ended up losing the deal anyway and the stuff I did whilst on it was not me (shite).”- Dave O’Grady
Martin’s Garden was released on 1 June on Mellowtone Records.
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