Seamus Fogarty ‘God Damn You Mountain’ (Fence)

Googling Seamus Fogarty, not surprisingly, the Fence label comes up. According to the label site of the legendary Fife label ‘Seamus Fogarty hails from the west of Ireland and writes songs about mountains that steal t-shirts, women who look like dinosaurs and various other unfortunate incidents.’ That would be the perfect tart to a record review, but it’s already been used and I can’t pass it off as my own. Never mind. It does sound good.

Released as a vinyl LP (with CD inside, this makes perfect sense because this really is an album of two halves. Side A is like an audio collage (appropriately enough for a man who is an artist and has worked in installation, painting and installation). The final track on this side ‘Rita Jack’s Lament’ is particuarly, building up and then folding in on itself. IN the best possible way, it has to be heard to be believed. Side B on the other hand is much more sparse, Seamus’s voice as near as unaccompanied as it can be without actually being a capella with little more than banjo or guitar and a bit of percussion.

The album is a real charm, and if you can’t get half a hole, then you can certaonly have a record that is the sum of its part, two very impressive parts making up one very impressive hole.

Apparently, there are those folks who ‘don’t get’ Fence. Shame.

****

God Damn You Mountain is out now on Fence.

Rita Jack’s Lament from Seamus Fogarty on Vimeo.