The new album from Seamus Fogarty is being billed as something blues-based, or folk-influenced. And while it is, it's also more like releases from Johnny Greenwood and James Yorkston. Fogarty's release, A Bag of Eyes, is out now via Domino and it's a compelling journey through familiar forms.
While "Suits" unfurls with a precise, hypnotic grace, "Jimmy Stewart", the clear single here, rambles atop a hook that both Badly Drawn Boy and The Beta Band would have killed for. Elsewhere, "Nuns" works up to a real clatter, while "Ghosts" strolls languidly with haunting purpose. This one, one of the highlights here, recalls a few other artists, but Seamus seems so modest an artist that the fuel for his mission here is the faint hook that this one is built around. If closer "My Boy Willie" feels like a real folk composition, complete with spry banjo-work, it's an anomaly on an album that's more intent on dissecting the magic of both the folk and blues forms even as Seamus Fogarty offers up fairly accessible melodies throughout.
A Bag of Eyes is out now via Domino.
More details via the official Seamus Fogarty website.
[Photo: Brian Whar]