As a huge fan of An Emotional Fish (a follower from ‘Celebrate’ -still mad about it- and their debut -strong pop-, to ‘Junk Puppets’ -rock it, baby- to ‘Sloper’ -sort of folk-pop’ish-) I was oh so excited in 2002 to find out that leadsinger Gerard Whelan had returned to the planet of music as Jerry Fish and assembled the Mudbug Club to help him out. So I got their CD Be Yourself to hear a detached, relaxed sound with jazzy lounge music full of positive vibes. And I was really happy to see that mr. Fish collaborated with his former emotional co-species. Of course I couldn’t resist buying the 3 EP’s from the CD as well. 2004 saw the release of the live CD/DVD “Live at the Spiegeltent” that both perfectly capture the joy of playing and performing. But then… silence.
UPTO NOW… as them Mudbuggers are back with the beautiful The Beautiful Untrue. I had to go upto the source to get it (shame on local and internet stores!), but that resulted in a signed copy (thanks, Jerry!).
True they remained to the essential approach as described. But it’s even more refined and some distinct female voices bring something… ecstatic.
It builds on the finest tradition of romantic crooning. But don’t forget to add some latin influences. Sometimes it leans more towards whispering, sometimes towards weird cabaret, Gavin Friday-style (he’s Irish as well and I’m a fan as well). A deep, dark voice, clear trumpets and horns, a well-placed touch of guitar makes some great late night movie lounge atmosphere on a little glittering disk.
Check out some videos (new & old). Look at the (sometimes shy?) rock star. Do I see a future crooner behind those eyes?
