Keiron Phelan and Peace Signs - Bubblegum Boogie

by Kimberly Bright

published: 5 / 10 / 2022

Keiron Phelan and Peace Signs - Bubblegum Boogie

Label: Gare du Nord
Format: CD

intro

High baroque pop, 70's nostalgia, and emotional equilibrium against all odds on Keiron Phelan and Peace Signs' third album

Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Keiron Phelan's third album with his band Peace Signs was written under difficult circumstances -- living in his childhood home while caring for his mother who was suffering from dementia, a truly daunting task even without having to do so during COVID. The Serenity Prayer of Reinhold Niebuhr made famous by 12 Step fellowships everywhere contains a line about accepting things one cannot change. Phelan seems to have faced a whole stack of such things with good grace. To be fair, Phelan could have written a classic country album from that experience. Instead the songs on ‘Bubblegum Boogie’ consider bittersweet memories of childhood and adolescence, delving into the musical inspirations from those times, hence the 70's font and colour scheme of the album cover. It was from this era that he possibly found emotional reassurance to share with listeners. The title is also the name of a cultivated strain of cannabis that grows well indoors! The album was recorded with Jenny Brand on piano, clarinet, and backing vocals, Jack Hayter on pedal steel, co-producer Giles Barrett on bass, Ian Button on drums/percussion, and James Stringer on recorder and organ. ‘I Don't Know How We're Going Home From Here’, while wistful and sad, is buoyed by sheer loveliness and not as gut-wrenchingly melancholy as it would have every right to be. On ‘I've Got Ziggy on the Landline’, not sure who star friend Ziggy is but I hope it's someone like Michael Warren's alter ego if it's not Ziggy Stardust. It is a Johnny Mercer meets Marc Bolan type of tune with a cheeky lyrical reference to ‘Hobby Jingo’, the previous Peace Signs album. Romances falter before they get anywhere (‘Guessing Game"’ but are still viewed with a philosophic shrug instead of an emotional meltdown. It's in line with Sinatra's ‘In the Wee Hours of the Morning’ or borderline stoic Peggy Lee. On the shuffling, early '70s folky ‘My Last Great Love’ he declares "I'll never love again," unconvincingly, and then takes a moment to breathe: "I'm gonna let it all go." ‘Trojan Pony’ alone should get people through a bad day. ‘Sugar Me’ is a delightful cover of the Lynsey De Paul hit from 1973, while his version of Bill Fay's’"I Hear You Calling’ is more heartbreaking than the original. ‘Song for John Howard’ is a nice hat tip to the '70s pop singer-songwriter and pianist, whose influence runs like a shiny thread through the album. No one would suspect that these well-crafted mellow songs were created during a challenging time. ‘Bubblegum Boogie’ improves upon '70s soft rock with a few characteristic Peace Signs quirks thrown in.

Track Listing:-

1 Trojan Pony
2 You've Got Your Mother's Love
3 Song For John Howard
4 I Hear You Calling
5 My Last Great Love
6 Guessing Game
7 I Don't Know How We're Getting Home From Here
8 I Got Ziggy On The Landline
9 Apple Pie
10 Bubblegum Boogie
11 Sugar Me
12 A Modern Day Dorothy