I pressed play on my iTunes, sat back with the headphones on, and closed my eyes and wait, excitedly, for what musical notation was about to grace my ears.
As soon as Bronagh and the Boys caress my inner ear I realise that I was no longer sitting on my bed, but instead had been transported to a dimly lit jazz bar, air thick and heavy with smoke, a cigarette in my hand, and a whiskey in the other.
From the get go Bronagh and the Boys melancholic brand of, what could only be described as Vaudeville Music Hall, is epic sounding, and could easily be used to score any classic film staring Audrey Hepburn.
The first track, ‘I’m His’, harks back to the glory days of the sexy James Bond theme, with its minor key piano intro, heavily drenched reverb and tremolo guitars, its horn section and finally the powerful vocals that lead in and out of crescendos and decrescendos throughout the song.
Though the song is polished with that vintage feel of Jaques Brel and Scott Walker, there is an underlying element of something modern and something new.
In fact the Pixiesesque song formula of soft verses, and loud choruses is exactly what makes Bronagh and the Boys evidently modern.
As the record moves onto the second track the band does genre hop slightly, however they still keep the film score theme going, as they take it down a notch from Bond Theme epic to the folky and gospel track, ‘Green’, a song very reminiscent of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.
It is a bit of a surprise really, after that millisecond of silence, the beautifully harmonised introduction of ‘Green’ comes in, and instantly you are swept away by the voices that ring out the lyrics “Green is the colour of my soul”.
To be honest I was expecting more Vaudeville, but instead I was hit with a wave of excitement as the lyrics of ‘Green’, which seem to be a soul yearning for a lost love to come back, ring out in my ears.
The soft folky guitar, however, does carry the track away from the original gospel feel to a more modern, piano ballad, with help from the piano of course.
Slowly the song builds into a driving, more sonically layered track that is comparable with the likes of Elbow or Radiohead, a direction that in all honesty can’t go wrong.
As track two fades out, track three, ‘Young Hearts’, comes to life with an arpeggio and ghostly trumpet.
‘Young Hearts’, a story about two young lovers is joyful, powerful, painful and filled with extremes as the lead vocals yell out at times, where as at others are barely the whisper of a lovers tales in your ear.
The track is not only carried by the vocals, but the driving, crashing drums that belt out the emotions of both broken and mended hearts.
The closing track on the record, ‘Not My Own’, is far from weak as it makes a running start, beginning, not only, with a piano intro but an intro that gradually builds slowly; guitar, bass and drums that finally burst into a running tune that causes you to feel as though you are breaking free.
However, with the final minutes of the song up ahead the song halts with a rest from the music and the vocals go solo.
Finally the instrumentation slowly comes back in, like actors reappearing on the stage to take a bow, and with this they say their thank you, and bid you a due.
The sonic structure of the songs on A Young Heart not only hark back to the glory days of film scores but they also have a modern twist to them, they feel like a younger Elbow, or a lighter hearted, more hopeful Radiohead.
The songs build, the songs fall, they allow for every emotion to recover before the next part of the song begins.
The songs are layered, sophisticated and elegantly put together, as to accompany the wonderful story-like lyrics that tell tales of love, heartbreak and the mending of scars.
It is safe to say that Bronagh and the Boys are on the road to success.
Words: Luke Dinsdale
