Palomino - Emanuelle

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 5 / 7 / 2005

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Review

As a four piece hailing from Glasgow and attracting comparisons to Teenage Fanclub, one would be forgiven for thinking "heard it all before." And with Hal, The Coral and The Thrills also mining that Californian sunshine line Palomino are joining a genre which is already getting a little overcrowded. If we want to listen to the "real thing" we can drag out our Love and Buffalo Springfield records, if we want something more contemporary we have the above mentioned bands so why should Palomino be the soundtrack to this years hopefully long, hot summer? Because in Marco Rea (vocals and acoustic guitar) and Michael McDaid (bass, Fender Rhodes and backing vocals), the two main players and writers in Palomino (although drummer Seamus Simon and Johnny McGlynn on lead guitar certainly handle their parts extremely well), the band has two musicians who know their way around not just their chosen instruments but a decent melody as well. As good as opening track, ‘Already Waiting’ is at recalling perfect days just lazing on the beach, chilling out and feeling all is right with your world the fact that it has been chosen as the first single off the album doesn’t mean it’s the best song. It’s a perfect slab of sunshine pop for sure with a chorus as catchy as chicken pox but the following song, ‘History (New)’ shows just how accomplished the band are at harmonising and writing good, solid summery pop songs but with a few necessary touches which give the songs that all important edge that makes them stand out from the crowd. Not all the songs work well, ‘Dreamin’ is well named almost to the point that if listened to while soaking up the sun might well, with it’s jazzy undertones, send the listener off into a dream of their own. In contrast the following song, ‘One More Year’ is the perfect song to have blasting out of the car while driving along. Again capturing that summer feeling, the song is fuelled by some fantastic guitar by McGlynn and again with its catchy chorus is one of the highlights on the album. ‘When The Ego Hits The Ground’ shows a rougher side to the band, never far from those by now trademark melodies the song none the less has a harder edge, helped by an incredible performance by Rea switching from sweet to raw vocals with ease. ‘Time On My Hands’ is cut from the same cloth as ‘Dreamin’ but works so much better, no chance of drifting off to this intricate melody even though it does conjure up a dream like feeling. The band makes a better job of the gentler songs like ‘Get By’ and ‘If It’s Not Enough’ than they do on the rockier tracks like ‘Don’t Need Persuasion’ and ‘Doppelganger’, there’s a blues element which shows in these songs which although adds some variety to the album upsets the flow of these basically summer pop songs. Full marks to the band for adding texture to the songs and not just taking say ,’History (New)’, and making another 9 variants on it but jumping ship between various genres like the band do in ‘Don’t Need Persuasion’ can grate at times. There are genuine breathtaking moments in a song like that but in a heartbeat they morph into something completely different. If it wasn’t for those couple of observations this album would be a perfect soundtrack for the summer.As it is it serves as a very good debut from a band who it will be worth keeping an eye out for in the future.

Track Listing:-

1 Already Waiting
2 History (New)
3 Dreamin'
4 One More Year
5 When The Ego Hits The Ground
6 Time On My Hands
7 Doppleganger
8 Don't Need Persuasion
9 Get By
10 If It's Not Enough