|
Bring Trouble
- Hot Press - 31st March 1999
Rain-soaked lovers; galaxy-straddling astronauts; the dawn's early light;
the late night taxi; the broken hearted people; the reawakened dreams;
and through it all, casting a warm, twinkling eye from above, the stars.
This is Ken Sweeney's world. And it's a pretty wonderful place to be.
And it's been too long since we were last there. Seven years, in fact.
Back in 1992, the one and only member of Brian (in a very literal sense)
released what can only be described as thirty of the most literate,
heartfelt and melodious minutes in the Irish rock pantheon the classic
Understand. And promptly followed it with the evergreen Planes EP. Another
unsung hero was born.
Since then, his record company, Setanta, has evolved from a low-key
shoestring enterprise whose remit was to sneak out often exceptional
records into the relatively indifferent ether, to a highly respected
business proposition which has made a star of Neil Hannon and a Laughing
Lazarus out of Edwyn Collins, all the while continuing to support its
less commercially viable and publicly visible acts.
But with the Divine Comedy having flown the coop to EMI, Setanta are
hoping Brian recoup the loss. And listening to Bring Trouble, it's hard
to see how it could fail. It's not just that Sweeney had a bigger budget
to play with this time around; it's what he did with it that makes the
difference. For he has made an album that attempts to throw away the
bathwater of commercial obscurity without losing the baby of artistic
credibility.
Bring Trouble attempts nothing less than to bridge the gap between 'Pop'
and 'Indie'. It wants to seduce both daytime and late-night radio jocks
alike; to light up both office parties and student bedsits. Mainstream
pop with emotional depth? A contradiction in terms, you might think,
but you only to have listen to Motown or the Beach Boys to realise that
it can be done. And now Brian have managed to square the circle.
The opening salvos of 'We Close 1-2' (the mooted first single) and 'Turn
Your Lights On' aim for pure pop nirvana by taking the saccharine out
of the Lightning Seeds and replacing it with an altogether rarer and
more precious ingredient: soul. The former is a tale of office tedium
and the temporary respite of lunch hour. But in honing in on the small,
seemingly insignificant details in this case, the plastic plants, the
scribbled work messages on the wall, the fax machine Sweeney is paradoxically
painting the bigger picture; hinting at wider truths, inferring the
universal from the particular. 'We Close' isn't just a gripe about hating
your job; it asks: what are you living for? And also, what is that makes
the unbearable things in life bearable?
'Turn Your Lights On' answers the question; it is, of course, the immense
beatitude of loving and being loved by your partner: "Lights dance
over Outback towns/Meteorites fall/Without any sound/All man-made things
must come back to earth/I've fallen in love again." 'This Kitchen,
5am' is next, a short, sharp sun-burst, which is as blissfully tuneful
as, say, the Go-Betweens's 'Streets Of Your Town' and as unconventionally
poetic as the Blue Nile's 'Easter Parade'. Is this a hit single I see
before me? Cocteau Twin Robin Guthrie adds resonant, moody bass on the
beautiful 'Light Years', as Sweeney's warm and deeply vulnerable vocals
echo forlornly in the mix: "I dreamt a dream of the world I'd left
behind/The roll of thunder and the people taking shelter/As the rain
sweeps across the land/As it falls on your seas/In Light Years."
Who would even want to cure the incurable romantic who can write lines
like that?
'On A Roll' is yet another optimistic, love-affirming song with chiming
guitars and the cherubic string section of the High Llamas undulating
in the background. But the second half of the album sees things take
a change in direction, both lyrically and musically. 'Getting Meaner'
and 'Right Through Tuesday' are closer in spirit to earlier Brian records,
which deal with the cynicism and hard-heartedness brought by time's
arrow; and that wretched, sinking feeling that follows a relationship
irretrievably going down the Swanney.
The title track and the closing 'Wherever We're Going' bring things
to a happy conclusion, all the more appreciated for being so hard won.
And with that, Ken Sweeney's comeback is complete. His return is a triumph
for those who believe sensitivity and sincerity to be virtues worth
treasuring, and poetic pop music an art form worth pursuing. Rating:
11/12
- Dublin Event Guide - 31st March 1999
This has been a long time coming. Ken Sweeney aka "Brian"
released a mini album called "Understand" in 1992. That record
contained some uniquely magical moments, most notably the title track.
It was also recorded on an 8-track machine and was relatively modest
in its musical ambition. The same could certainly not be said of the
follow up. "Bring Trouble" is a wonderfully lush record, rich
in synthesised sounds but still avoiding any harking back to those horrible
noises fo the eighties. Instead, its layers owe much more to the likes
of the Pet Shop Boys, while Sweeney will find it impossible to avoid
comparisons with the Lightening Seeds.
It's hard to think of anybody who can paint a picture of a kitchen breathing
at 5am. Take these lyrics - "the crumbs across the counter still/The
fridge starts humming/Bringing itself to life/While I'm still here/In
this kitchen at 5am" and Mr Sweeney's talent becomes obvious, "Light
Years" is a hark back to his debut, while both "Turn Your
Lights On" and "On A Roll" are perfect radio singles,
optimistic, poppy and at times downright life-affirming. "On A
Roll" captures a perfect summer moment "Lying out here on
the lawn.Waiting for a brand new song/There is nothing that we need
to say/When life creeps up on you/Gives you anything you want/And people
understand you", while "Getting Meaner" provides a touching
insight to his exile in London "Trying to get back home/And getting
meaner".
And still it gets better! "Right Through Tuesday" is a bitter
personal trawl through what must have been a cruel day in the writers
life. "Bring Trouble" is not a rock recrds, it's not an indie
record but it is a remarkable record, which deserves to bring its creator
everything (spiritually and financially) he needs to make another one.
A great, great pop album with just the right amount of reality contained
inside it.
Dave Roberts
- The Express - 3rd April 1999 -
It is on first listening hard to believe that this cracking little album
belongs to 1999 rather than 1989 vintage. Agreeably amateurish in a
Jarvis Cocker kind of way, singer-songwriter Ken Sweeney is not afraid
to wear his heart on his sleeve and frames some of the sweetest lyrics
around with cleverly looped beats and poppy melodics. Then he'll throw
in a beautifully measured Roddy Frame-ish ballad. Very Classy.
- Daily Telegraph - 3rd April 1999
Brian die-hards have had little to celebrate since the release of the
band's debut back in 1992 although eagle-eyed followers may have glimpsed
frontman Ken Sweeney's clutch of ecumenical cameos on the sitcom Father
Ted. The lay-off has clearly done little to dim the songwriter's ability
however Bring Trouble simply bubbles with stylish crafted pop tunes.
Album opener We Close 1-2 finds Sweeney throwing a few Jarvis-style
vocal moves to good effect.
- TOP - April 1999
While one can understand the logic of choosing - for the purpose of
an auspicious career in music - a single moniker like Skin or Kylie
or Sting or Madonna, Brian shows his lack of imagination or, for that
matter, ambition. Nevertheless, he's a little wonder anyway and Bring
Trouble is a quietly gorgoeus record, the Irishman crafting sweetly
classic pop songs the way the bees make honey. He has produced a record
that sounds like a less grafting Lightning Seeds and a warmer Go-Beweens.
Like the afformentioned Ben & Jason, Brian deals in musical subtlety,
although he's never twee. "Light Years" is the soundtrack
to a perfect dream, while the opening "We Close 1-2" boasts
the kind of hypnotically revolving melody Electronic have been trying
to replicate since "Get the Message". No advertising budget
will accompany this release, because the record company can't afford
it. So let the whispering campaign begin forthwith.
Nick Duerden
|
