Black Coats & Bandages is the second full-length album by Irish-Australian band Clann Zú. This album has much sparser instrumentation and less electronic influence than Clann Zú's previous album, Rua, and a heavier use of the Irish language.
| Black Coats & Bandages | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1 June 2004 | |||
| Recorded | Newmarket Studios (Melbourne) | |||
| Genre | Art rock Slowcore | |||
| Length | 46:52 | |||
| Label | G7 Welcoming Committee | |||
| Clann Zú chronology | ||||
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Black Coats & Bandages explores similar issues as Rua, but also touches on themes of imperialism, war, organized religion, and personal struggles.
Reception edit
AllMusic's Stewart Mason expressed a difficulty in describing Black Coats & Bandages: "close to impossible to sum up in an easy sentence, because there are so many comparisons" and decided "[it] is undeniably flawed, and several listens will be necessary before it all begins to make some kind of sense, but as perhaps the most wide-ranging and eclectic band this side of Canada's Broken Social Scene, Clann Zu continue to impress."[1] Adam White of Punknews.org compared it to the group's debut album Rua, and found that it "is completely raw, shockingly so. It's a record of mid to slow paced ballads, sparely arranged and sparsely produced. The prevailing theme in the title track (and the band's press) is 'funeral oration'."[2] Maarten Schiethart of PennyBlackMusic noted that when "De Barra sings rather than whines, his voice shows a fine soulful style, yet when the preaching starts – Black Coats and Bandages is on G7 Welcoming Committee after all – the Clann Zú sound becomes pretty mundane".[3]
Track listing edit
Music by Clann Zú; lyrics by Declan de Barra.
- "Black Coats & Bandages" – 1:38
- "There Will Be No Morning Copy" – 6:18
- "So Complicated Was the Fall" – 4:10
- "An T-Éan Bán" – 4:30
- "One Bedroom Apartment" – 6:35
- "From an Unholy Height" – 6:14
- "Án Deireadh Scéal" – 3:15
- "From Bethlehem to Jenin" – 5:35
- "You'll Have to Swim" – 6:07
- "A Sudden Intake of Breath" – 2:33
References edit
- ^ Mason, Stewart. "Black Coats Bandages – Clann Zu". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
- ^ White, Adam (4 June 2004). "Clann Zú – Black Coats & Bandages". punknews.org. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
- ^ Schiethart, Maarten. "Review of Clann Zu:Black Coats & Bandages". pennyblackmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 6 November 2014.