Incredibly, it’s 30 years since De Barra’s cut their teeth as a music venue, so it’s a real credit to them that – in the middle of a deep recession – they are still thriving and putting on all sorts of seriously unmissable bands when lots of venues are giving up the ghost. As a rule I try to avoid what could be construed as ‘editorial comment’ on W&H, but on this occasion it’s necessary: thank you for everything Ray and co – here’s to the next three decades!
Magnificent Limerick quintet WINDINGS, meanwhile, arrive in the heart of West Cork to celebrate another imminent birthday. Their esteemed label, Out On A Limb, is ten years old next week and this show is the start of an intense seven day spell involving a short UK tour and then the OOAL weekend in Limerick that will see not only more Windings live action, but also a one-off reunion from Stephen Ryan’s pioneering hardcore duo giveamanakick. Phew! No sleep ‘til Dolan’s indeed.
There’s a real buzz about Windings at present, and it’s not before time. Since Ryan quietly unveiled the band as a bedroom-based side project circa 2005 or thereabouts, they have slowly but surely built up a head of steam. 2010’s sophomore release ‘It’s Never Night’ established them as a fully-fledged band as well as sounding like one of the best independent Irish releases in years, but things really coalesced with last year’s ‘I Am Not The Crow’. Partially recorded in Montreal with Efrim Menuck from the renowned Godspeed! You Black Emperor, it was both a giant leap forwards and actually deserving of that vastly overused epithet ‘classic’.
Thus, they’re greeted with a packed-to-the-rafters crowd tonight, taking the stage around 11pm to a round of anticipatory applause. Rightly, they’re playing by their rules too, opening with ‘Sun In My Bones’: ‘I Am Not The Crow”s star-sailing epic opener which, as ever stretches towards ten minutes, with a telling space-rock guitar coda from Ryan sealing the deal.
They proceed with a powerful, well-paced set, leaning heavily on ‘...Crow’ and a smattering of impressive new material. The first of the new tracks, ‘Bang Bang Normal Man’ is full-on and visceral, with Ryan and Mike Gavin wringing screes of Thin White Rope-esque feedback from their guitars in tandem. ‘Bladerubber’ (sic) follows swiftly in its wake, opening with a brief, but violent vortex of noise with Ryan inflicting Thurston Moore-like damage to his Fender Jag with a drumstick before the song settles into a nagging, almost Krautrock-style groove and setting its controls for the heart of a distant sun. Both of these – and an edgily intriguing third, ‘Spiral Stairs’ – suggest an increased role for Patrick O’Brien’s keyboards and augur extremely well for Windings’ eventual fourth, hopefully due to arrive during 2014.
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Elsewhere, the ‘...Crow’ songs merge seamlessly with several of the band’s classic 45s. The yearning “existential lament” ‘The Space I Occupy’ makes a welcome return early on; ‘Something Outnumbered’ somehow sounds abjectly crestfallen yet utterly glorious all at once and the driving, Magazine-like ‘This Is Not A Conversation’ has ‘killer’ stamped through it like a stick of Clonakilty rock.
The witching hour’s already been and gone before they switch up to a dangerous fifth and enter the home strait with an angst-ridden tumble through the eerie ‘The Hassle’; a frenetic flail at ‘I Am Not The Crow’ and a positively vitriolic ‘Alkaterian Are Alright’ before they finally surrender and leave us in a hailstorm of feedback and strobe lights, knowing full well they’ve raised the bar yet again. Wow.
Listen to Windings at Bandcamp
Out On A Limb Records online
De Barra's Folk Club online
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