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Little Green Cars – Absolute Zero album review

Pretty soon, we’ll all find ourselves converting to Little Green Cars.

The Dublin five piece’s debut album Absolute Zero is jam packed with beautifully layered tracks and perfectly formed cloudbursts of held together harmonies. Seemingly simple in construction, each song consists of cleverly intertwined elements embroiled to stunning effect.

A hopeful and naïve look at love and life, the record addresses isolation, unrequited love and madness, expressing both feelings of strength and vulnerability. This record constantly jumps between two contrasting perspectives, the beauty of reckless youth and the fear and confusion caused by ever-impending adulthood.

The critically acclaimed full bodied anthemic opener Harper Lee provides an impeccable introduction to a record bursting with brilliantly tailored examples of tempered talent, with a lyric (‘like a crash I wait for the impact’) that is probably about love but could easily apply to their imminent breakthrough.

The band’s evident level of heartfelt enthusiasm runs through the entire album and can be clearly heard on up-tempo Band of Horses-esque Big Red Dragon; whereas a soft start to the quietly uplifting Angel Owl and The Consequences of Now Sleeping gently rises to a catchy crescendo, inspiring a welcome feeling of hopefulness.

In a break with the traditional choral vocals as featured on the rest of Absolute Zero, the use of auto tune in Red and Blue won’t be to everyone’s taste, especially from a more than acoustically sound band. Whilst the move shows an admirable willingness to break out of their comfort zone in the name of experimentation, the band are anything but reliant on this commercial method of production as more than competent vocalists, each with their own noticeably unique style.

Lone female Faye O’Rourke’s arresting tones are demonstrated to distinction on mournfully moving My Love Took Me Down To The River To Silence Me, lending to the track’s haunting message of conflicting emotions in the face of a love unreturned. Lyrics including ‘this love’s killing me but I want it to’ reveal the band’s flair for expertly crafted penmanship. Similarly, beguiling ballad The Kitchen Floor makes full use of the singer’s consistently striking vocals, fitting beautifully with the tragic tale of emotional manipulation.

Whilst the musical accompaniment of melodic guitars, at times thrashing piano, and fervent drums suit the relaxed choruses to the ground, the emphasis rests naturally on the way that the harmonies seamlessly blend to create a wholly enjoyable listening experience. The boy-girl harmonies work, and the rousing melodies are in constant supply.

To dismiss this outfit as just another reincarnation of Magic Numbers would be sadly short sighted. Producing quality music to both thrill and thought provoke, the harmonious ensemble sound of this Irish band has a real air of appealing authenticity. As equally epic as they are intimate, the tracks act as a soul bearing report on the act of growing up and we would all do well to give them the attention they so deserve.

Here is a band bound for greatness.

Lucy Christian
Lucy Christian
Lucy writes music news and reviews for Entertainment Focus.

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