SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: EAMON FOGARTY – I’M AN ANIMAL NOW

EAMON FOGARTY
I’M AN ANIMAL NOW
ORPHEAN KIOSK RECORDS

How much of the (for some dreaded) genre of prog rock has filtered through into another ‘dreaded’ genre of singer-songwriter?  Quite a bit it seems, particularly as both genres are so broadly formulated that they could include so many musical elements, but not that many artists did it remotely well. The first names that would come to mind are legends like Robert Wyatt and Scott Walker. Of more recent names, Grizzly Bear come to mind, but we haven’t heard from them lately.

These days not that many artists dare tread into such waters, usually afraid that something would have to give, either the melody (read listenability) or complexity.

Eamon Fogarty takes that risky route on his latest album I’m An Animal Now, and doesn’t sacrifice either his inborn melodicism or the complexity he infuses into his songwriting. The nine songs here, or compositions if you will, are brimming with subtle changes in time signatures and shifts with a strong melodic line never being broken, something that suits Fogarty’s excellent vocals throughout.

Referencing everyone from The Beatles, through Syd Barrett to King Crimson, Fogarty comes up with an album full of musical surprises.

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