Album Review: David Geraghty - The Victory Dance



David Geraghty releases "The Victory Dance" on 28 August 2009. In case you don't know David is the guitarist with Bell X1 and this album is his second release following on from the Choice nominated 'Kill Your Darlings'. Here's some background information:

"The Victory Dance is very much a collaborative effort, with band members Marc Aubele, Kevin Brady, Clare Finglass, Tiger Cooke and Dave Redmond involved from the very outset.

“I spotted a clearing in the dense forest that is the Bell X1 tour machine”, says Geraghty, ‘so in June 2008, we retreated to a friends’ house in West Cork to begin recording. We ended up using the old barn beside the house, which had a great vibe and the added bonus of a colony of bats, who lent us their vocals on a number of tracks. I subsequently forgot to include the addendum that no bats were harmed in the making of the album. I’m sure it wasn’t an ‘FX first’! I can’t imagine that Meat Loaf hasn’t used bat noises on a number of his recordings!’"..... taken from the Press Release!


The Victory Dance consists of 10 songs of which there could easily be 4 radio hits on there. They are the uplifting songs of 'Instant Sunshine', 'Tuesday's Feet', the beautifully crafted 'Stones' and the opener 'Watch Her Win' from which the album title comes from. Just like Sean Needham's new album 'The Victory Dance' is an optimistic album full of feelgood melodies and moods. The album reminds me alot of Mark Geary's most recent album 'Opium' and on some tracks there's a real folk sound to them. These include the songs 'Wear out your name' and 'Soft Spot' which should find itself onto a romantic comedy soundtrack. 'Stones' is quite possibly the closest I have heard to John Martyn's 'May You Never'. It will be in my best of list of songs for this year.


Overall it's a great album which deserves to be successful both in Ireland and Internationally. In many ways I prefer this album to the over-long songs typical of Bell X1. However just like my feelings on Bell X1 I am not making a huge 'song and dance' about this album mainly because I didn't become completely enthralled by the lyrics and the overall mood of the album.

The Victory Dance - 9 out of 12


The lead single from the album Tuesday Feet is available from David's website here: http://www.davidgeraghty.com

Catch David Live:

Saturday 5 September Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co. Laois
Wednesday 9 September The Pavilion, Cork
Friday 11 September The Roisin Dubh, Galway
Saturday 12 September Upstairs, Dolans, Limerick
Sunday 13 September De Barra’s, Clonakilty, Cork
Tuesday 15 September The Spirit Store, Dundalk
Wednesday 16 September The Button Factory, Dublin


http://www.myspace.com/davidgeraghty

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