Gavan Kearney - "Post Mortem Paradise"
(self-released 2004, CDR)
Gavan Kearney - "Post Mortem Paradise"
(self-released 2004, CDR)
From Aural Innovations #30 (February 2005)
UK's Gavin Kearney pulls together influences ranging from Nick Drake to Krautrock to Radiohead and blends them all into a reflective, rainy day kind of music full of shadows and light. In fact, fans of bands like Tortoise and Cul-de-Sac would certainly enjoy this stuff.
The music is all instrumental, with the exception of some very understated female vocals on one of the tracks and some voices heard on another. Kearny plays all the instruments, including guitar, piano, drums, and bass, with subtle effects and electronics. Mellow and jazzy as it is dark and brooding, with liquid sound textures rolling beneath, the music on Post Mortem Paradise is a refreshing lo-fi journey through Kearney's different moods, a reflection of what's inside the musician. It ranges from the stark and nostalgic melodies of Halo of Rain to the playfully rhythmic, excellent title track to the avant-garde sound collages of Faerie God Mother.
Oddly both challenging and accessible, this is the kind of music that resonates within you, affecting you long after it has stopped playing.
For more information you can email Gavan Kearney at: gavanknosis@hotmail.com.
Contact via snail mail c/o Gavan Kearney; 986 Lower Clapton Road; London; E5 OQR; England.
Reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald