More Or Less...? Definitely More

más o menos, the opening song from Damian O'Neill's current album, an crann ("the tree"), was released as a single last week and included in my Bandcamp Friday haul.

Perhaps best known for being in The Undertones and That Petrol Emotion, Damian O'Neill has also released three solo albums, the latest containing (in his own words) "instrumental pieces that are emotional, evocative and personal and offer to the listener textures and layers of music that can be melodic, childlike and even melancholic at times."

 

Perfect soundtrack music in other words and más o menos ("more or less") is a great example and strong opener.

The three-track EP contains the five-minute album version plus a pair of remixes by Lionel from The Limiñanas and Kevin Sharkey* Before you ask, the latter is not former bandmate Feargal's "perfect cousin", but wouldn't that have been something?

 

The Limiñanas remix is a minute shorter but, if you hadn't heard the original, would sound very much like one of their own songs, not just in the musical treatment but with added vocals. Still perfect for a film soundtrack, but this would be a much different movie, an independent, art-house road movie where the two escapees are unlikely to make it at the end. If forced to choose, this is currently my pick of the three.

 

Kevin Sharkey's remix starts off with the sound of chatter, before drums, then bass, then further layers of sound start dropping in. An admittedly half-arsed search of t'internet has revealed little about Mr. Sharkey, other than he has deputised for drummer Billy Doherty in The Undertones for live gigs. 

 

There are elements of Andrew Weatherall's late period stripped back, percussive remixes, 1990s Mo' Wax and Barry Adamson's imaginary film score pieces without ever sounding like a pastiche or parody. This extended work is nearly as long as the first two tracks combined, yet still leaves you wishing it was longer.

 

  

The más o menos EP is currently available exclusively on Bandcamp but gets a wider digital release on 24th March. 

* I couldn't find a bio for Kevin Sharkey but he is name checked in an interview with Damian O'Neill about an crann by writer Malcolm Wyatt, which is well worth a read.