Irving
Death In The Garden, Blood On The Flowers
Eenie Meenie Records

The five-piece Irving present their second album, Death In The Garden, Blood On The Flowers, released by the charming label Eenie Meenie Records. Irving - Alex Church (bass), Steven Scott (guitar), Brian Canning (guitar), Brent Turner (drums), and Aaron Burrows (keyboards) - play pop new wave style, and follows the steps of, say, Franz Ferdinand, a bit like Modest Mouse, plus others. But I also find glimpses of 60s pop song sounds, think the Beatles and the Kinks, plus some elements of 90s, as performed by Pulp.

All five members in the band write songs, which is a strength - but quite a challenge as well, an probably the reason for making Death In The Garden, Blood On The Flowers a bit unstable. There are some great songs, like "The Gentle Preservation of Children's Minds", "I'll Write the Song, You Sing for Me", "Situation", "Care, I Don't Care", "If You Say Jump, I Will Say No", "Lovely, Just Like Her", and the excellent closer "The Look of Flowers That Are Looked At" - which is very Pavement-meets-Grandaddy-like.

Death In The Garden, Blood On The Flowers seems to have this growing effect, sort of a late starter. Guess I'll play it a lot during the summer.Most of the album was produced by Phil Ek (The Shins, Modest Mouse), a few by Elliot Chenault (formerly of Scout - now (?) playing with Christian alternative band called Dakoda Motor Co.), together with the band themselves. And, yes: Grandaddy guitarist Jim Fairchild has been one of the engineers.

Copyright © 2006 Håvard Oppøyen