The Sigla Blog

Forgive the over-enthusiasm of the post slug, but I stand by it after spending the last week listening to the wondrous beauty and head-scratching genius of Chequerboard’s new album. A review is pending so I won’t say much, but four of the best tracks - ‘Ornithopter’, ‘Toy Winds’, ‘Quotidian Debris’ and ‘The Winter Arcade’ are streaming over on John’s myspace page.

The opening title track has a ten second intro which there’s a lovely story behind, according to the man himself.

“Penny Black opens with a sample of my grandfather asking my mother what she is going to sing for him from an old 1950’s cassette recording that I found in the attic. My grandad used to play banjo so I feel like he passed his music on to her as my mum was then in turn a folk singer in the 60’s around Dublin (there’s a picture of her on the wall of O’Donohues pub). My mum used to listen to Tubular Bells and lie out in her and dad’s Sandycove garden and watch the stars when heavily pregnant with me.”

All that in just 10 seconds. And the remaining 34 minutes only get better. To say it’s a masterpiece is an understatement and with all the talk about next week’s Choice Music Prize, I’m getting in a year early with a shortlist prediction for next year.

Penny Black is out on February 29th on Dublin label Lazybird, who are also home to Choice shortlist nominees Dry County. The album launch is on Sunday March 2nd, upstairs in Whelans with support from Carly Sings

Links:
Chequerboard site
Musical Rooms: Chequerboard