IT'S Noise Annoys time once again, this week with words on Lurgan's finest garage punk blues duo The Bonnevilles who, on the basis of their excellent new LP Arrow Pierce My Heart, can surely lay claim to being one of the finest garage punk blues duos in the whole world right now.
The good folks at Alive Naturalsound records in California sure think so anyway – that's why the label that's already put its name on the covers of records by somewhat like-minded types including the Soledad Brothers, Left Lane Cruiser and ex-Imortal Lee County Killer, recently-rocking-out-in-Belfast keyboard wrangler, James Leg.
Don't let the 'punk' tag deceive you: while crooning guitar man Andrew McGibbon Jr and drummer Chris McMullan can most definitely holler, fuzz 'n' stomp with the best of them on the likes of head-nodding opener No Law In Lurgan, My Dark Heart's locomotive boogie (on which McGibbon's desperate wail is oddly reminiscent of the guy from The Offspring), The Electric Company's rolling, riffing blues concussion, and the hand-clapping rumble tumble of Learning How To Cope, The Bonnevilles also show off keenly deployed push/ pull songwriting dynamics that set them several shelves above your average pedal-crashing trash blues merchants.
They can punch with an impressively heavy thump for a two man set-up, yet also know how to ease off the gas on occasion to maximise impact: Witness the slow-building bluesy bluster of The Whiskey Lingers, the measured psychedelic Hendrix-worship of I've Come to Far For Love to Die, I Dreamt of The Dead's playfully choppy riffola and the tune that's probably my pick of the whole record, Who Do I Have To Kill To Get Out of Here? – as instant an anthem for down-trodden lovers/workers/humans as you'll ever hear.
Elsewhere, quieter more contemplative moments such as folk-noir interlude Eggs and Bread, country-ish acoustic waltzer Those Little Lies and marvellously titled simmering surf guitar instrumental Erotica Laguna Lurgana (this featuring tuneful whistling guaranteed to impress your friendly neighbourhood window cleaner) – offer ample evidence that The Bonnevilles have learned a thing or six about how to craft musical light and shade over the course of their six year career.
The lyrics are good too: you'll be left with visions of shady scar-faced men who dump bodies by the riverbank before running off with your woman.
Maybe the best compliment you could give these guys is that if you came to them 'cold', you wouldn't have the slightest notion that they hailed from deepest, darkest Lurgan – see also fellow Co Armagh escapee, Stevie 'Malojian' Scullion.
Since they're a duo you might be tempted to The Black Keys or The White Stripes, the band they remind me of the most is the excellent Little Barrie (of Better Call Saul theme semi-fame) whose recent LP Shadows is cut from similarly high quality dark cloth.
In other words, you'll be wanting to buy it – especially if you can track down a copy of the delightful looking splatter coloured vinyl at your local record emporium, or perhaps via label website Alive-records.com.
You will most definitely be able to buy the CD version at one of the band's gigs this weekend. They're at The Marine in Whitehead tomorrow night and The Hop House in Bangor on Sunday evening – choose and perish.
Be advised that you can also bring yourself bang up to date with Andy and Chris's musical exploits to date by hitting up Thebonnevilles.bandcamp.com, while everything else you might need from them can surely be found somewhere at Thebonnevilles.co.uk.
Let their arrow pierce your heart today.
