THE LATEST instalment of the Lost Chord adventure comes in the form of a new three track EP entitled Canada which is available as a free download.
Lost Chord are arguably the most exciting and restlessly creative band at work in Galway right now and the quintet’s progression so far has been exciting to watch on stage and through MP3.
Their debut EP, There Is No Lost Chord, showcased their musical diversity and imagination and laid down a high standard, not only for other Galway bands, but for Lost Chord themselves to follow.
By nature of its being just three tracks, Canada - the band are currently in Toronto for CMW Canadian Music Week, hence the title - does not have the room to explore as many ideas as did its predecessor, but there is still plenty of ideas on show across its 11 minutes.
Opening track BNP is an instrumental which alternates between band leader Dave Phelan’s guitar spitting out stuttering, staccato, notes, and the more deliberately fluid, smoother licks and interplay between Dave and the band’s other guitarist Eoin Reilly. It’s impressive stuff, especially as it a post-rock track which defies the clichés to which that genre is often prone.
‘Don’t Let Her’ opens with the attention grabbing line “Get the f**k out of my house!/You never f**k me anymore”, which reminds me a little of that great line from Queen’s ‘Tie Your Mother Down: “You’re such a dirty louse! Go get outta my house!”
However ‘Don’t Let Her’ is dealing with the more unsettling subject of a mutually abusive relationship: “He smacked her in the mouth”, “Don’t let her back in/She’s bad./She only wants you for your password.”
That latter line is repeated three times in the song and acts as a kind of refrain where the build up of the music resolves itself through an arresting melody. In comparison to their previous offerings, it’s right up there with ‘Records, Not Fear’ and ‘Up North’.
Closer ‘Drunk & Unspoken’ is the only weak spot, being a case of some interesting ideas, not fully realised and resulting in a rather directionless song. However given Lost Chord’s penchant for re-imagining and developing their sound, ‘Drunk & Unspoken’ may yet see a new lease of life in another guise.
Lost Chord’s Canada EP can be downloaded for free from http://lostchord.bandcamp.com/album/canada-e-p
