ARTIST: Tadhg Cooke
TITLE: Wax & Seal
LABEL: Ivy Court records
GENRE: Indie
TIME: 48:21 min
SIZE: 72,7 MB
RIP DATE: Mar-18-2005
RELEASE DATE: Mar-07-2005
Track List:
01. Roadmap 03:19
02. George's Street Arcade 03:24
03. Know You Hate Me 04:06
04. Monochrome 06:19
05. Like A Stone 03:21
06. Wax & Seal 04:41
07. Live What You Feel 04:48
08. Ivory Heart 03:22
09. Six O Two 03:31
10. You Ar I 03:54
11. Sparks 04:21
12. Foolish Part 03:15
Release Notes:
Sure Tadhg Cooke writes his own songs and, yes, he
does sing. But for the most part, his highly assured
debut album "Wax & Seal" sounds as far removed from
the beardy brigade of po-faced strummers as Pablo
Aimar's deft touches are from the journeymen
footballers of, say, West Brom. Thankfully, it's
also a refreshingly clichΘ-free zone.
Take album standout "I Know You Hate Me", a post
break-up song par excellence, where far from
lamenting the loss of his one true love, our hero is
rubbing her nose in the fact that he's moved on,
with a chorus that most would-be troubadors would
trade their broken hearts for: "I got a new love
breaking me in / helps me forget about the way I've
been". The fact that his revenge is served up with
such lightness of touch only makes it stronger.
Recent single "George's St Arcade" is a sublime,
multi-layered dreamy affair about bumping into a
one-night-stand in Dublin's city centre, and the
ensuing rush of sweaty memories that "flood in with
a wash of sin". "Monochrome", another highlight, has
a relentless rhythm and infectious vocal which chug
their way into your cranium with ease, before taking
up semi-permanent residence.
The title track could either be another admonition
of an ex-lover or a fairly damning indictment of
music journalism as a profession, with Cooke
explaining how he neither seeks nor needs anybody's
approval for anything he does. More power to him.
Ironically, the album's opener and closing track,
"Roadmap" and "Foolish Part", are disappointing,
staying in the semi-jazz mid-paced middle-ground,
and never breaking cover to forge into more
interesting musical territory. Unlike the surreal,
crank-and-bluster of the Tom Waits-ian "Ivory Heart"
or the clever wordiness of "Sparks", where Tadhg
tries to convince a would-be paramour that she's
only staying with her current boyfriend out of
habit. Unlike many songwriters, Cooke can do happy
as well as melancholy: the joyous "Live What You
Feel" wangles free from the stranglehold of
earnestness to soar into seriously celebratory
airspace.
"Wax & Seal" is a confident, impressive debut that's
best summed up by Cooke himself, on the gorgeous
"Like A Stone": "I don't believe your stories / I
can't believe your truths / But you're sweetly
infectious / And it's hard to stay aloof".