Cian Nugent's
Born With the Caul is very much a slow burn. It takes its time to deliver but deliver it surely does. Released at the end of 2013, I first heard it about 6 months ago and it didn't really hit. But after regular playings it has grown on me and I now reckon it's one of the great psychedelic guitar rock albums of recent years.
Nugent's group is aptly named as their music is good old fashioned cosmic music - the psychedelia of the the desert, the night and wide open spaces. After careful listening it reveals itself to be well in the tradition of the
Pink Floyd at their spaciest and the
Grateful Dead at their most freewheeling.
24 year-old
Cian Nugent hails from
Dublin and
has been playing solo acoustic folk guitar for a few years now. He also plugs in with his electric band, the
Cosmos, who include
Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh on electric viola,
Conor Lumsden on bass,
Brendan Jenkinson on organ and
David Lacey on drums. Their sound is a mixture of Celtic folk, jazz and psychedelic rock. They've recently been on tour with
Ryley Walker (a perfect double bill if ever there was one).
Nugent has recorded before but
Born With the Caul is this line-up's first release.
The album
references acoustic blues and late 60s psychedelia - especially early
Doors, the
Grateful Dead, the
Pink Floyd, early 70s
Fairport Convention and
John Cale era
Velvet Underground. However this is an album that very much stands on its own two feet. This is not a nostalgic revival. The music here sounds fresh and very much alive.
A 3 track album clocking in at 45 minutes - nice LP length
- Born With the Caul slowly navigates its way towards its thunderous and triumphant finale. Opening acoustic track
Grass Above My Head starts off sounding like a lament but soon morphs into a kind of Irish folk version of a
New Orleans style funeral celebration. The acoustic intro on
Double Horse seems to pick up from the previous track's motif but quickly leads in to a droning eastern style raga sound. Given the previous cut's theme, is this some kind of meditation on the hereafter? Nugent spins a couple of riffs that bring to mind
Robbie Kreiger's intro on The Doors'
The End. The keyboards also give it the eerie atmosphere of early
Doors. This is classic desert heat haze psychedelia. Indian territory. Ominous and strange. The ghost of
Jim Morrison lurks and we get a hint of danger on the edge of town. Of course this is a terrain also explored by the
Grateful Dead on
Dark Star and by the
Quicksilver Messenger Service on
The Fool or especially side 2 of
Happy Trails but this is also rich prospecting territory and Nugent's band convincingly stake their own claim
.
The mood is enhanced by
Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh's viola accompaniment which blends with Nugent's guitar without getting in the way of it. Some people have compared this album to
Fairport Convention for its use of guitar and viola but I'm not really hearing that. If anything, it's more like
John Cale's restrained use of viola in the
Velvet Underground. Think of
Cale's droning contribution to
Venus in Furs and you get an idea of what a rich strange mix this is. The rhythm section is also excellent.
David Lacey's jazzy drums are superb throughout. Towards the end
Nugent's guitar takes on an angular repetitive riff similar to something
Jerry Garcia might have come up with around 1969. The
Grateful Dead references are quite apt. This ranks alongside some of the
Dead's finest improvised work-outs from the late 60s.
Final track
Houses of Parliament is the big one. It starts off rewinding back into the desert heat haze of the previous piece but then suddenly morphs into something far more
Floydian. Built up from smaller pieces in to a larger whole it has the scope of the
Floyd at their finest.
Nugent also plays with the same subtle economy that
David Gilmour had - there is no noodling here. We soon head into a relaxed funk riff reminiscent of the mid section in the
Floyd's
Echoes but
David Lacey's drums add a jazzy groove that the
Floyd never really managed. An abrupt tempo change and the band drives helter skelter towards the song's finale with unbridled
punk energy and panache. Finally
Nugent kicks in spinning a riff reminiscent of the
Grateful Dead's
China Cat Sunflower. It sounds triumphant. A joyous homecoming.
This is an album that has a clean live feel. The band actually sound like they recorded it live in the studio with few overdubs and very little in the way of effects. It is also an an old-fashioned "album" in the sense that it is best listened to as a complete whole. This is not designed to be divided up and downloaded in marketable bite form. It's a superb work worthy of its influences and which very much continues their spirit. Give it your time. Slow burner it may be but when it hits you'll be richly rewarded.
The preview below doesn't really do the album justice. It is, as I say, best experienced as a complete album. But if you really want a sonic idea...
More stranger than known
Celestial Voices - The Pink Floyd live at the Paradiso, Amsterdam 1969
Parallax
- The Pink Floyd BBC Sessions
Fairport
Convention Bouton Rouge Sessions
Freak
Out! In praise of Improv
The
Grateful Dead - 1969 Dark Star set to vintage film ...
