Ginnels "Plumes"

Ginnels' music is instantly loveable.  A friend kindly passed on a copy of their "Plumes" lp on the new Madrid-based Tenorio Cotobade label and it took, say, a minute of  opening track"Don't Mean It" for me to be fairly sure that I was going to be cheered by what was to follow.  There's a freshness and sprightliness to much of "Plumes".  Songs like "Europe's Soil" and "Great Fall" rattle along apace and could easily do so for hours without becoming tiresome.  The guitar on "Stink It Out" sparkles breathlessly like an Another Sunny Day 45 played at 78 and "Wake Up Normal" provides a glimpse into how Beach Fossils might sound after a bracing dip in the Atlantic instead of a lazy day stretched out on Brighton Beach.  "Plumes" cherry picks tracks from the group's 3 previous releases and illustrates the range of their music; as well as the teen janglers there are Sentridoh/Daniel Johnston-style home-fi acoustics (see "Friends Are Dead" for an example of the latter) and fuzzed-up slacker anthems.  It's a great mix.  Over the next few days I'll have a closer listen to the lyrics - I suspect that they're worth spending the time to absorb - and over the next few months I'll keep a keen eye out for what Tenorio Cotobade does next.

First, September Girls barged their way grinning into my affections, then The #1s dared me not to love them and now I've fallen for Ginnels - Southern Irish music would appear to be in a great state at the moment.

There's a typically astute assessment of "Plumes" on the excellent The Finest Kiss blog here.