Little under a year ago Northern Ireland’s own Two Door Cinema Club took the prestigious Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year back to Bangor. Although the Bangor trio are absent from this years proceedings Northern Ireland is still very well represented in 2012. The sheer variety of styles and genres for this years shortlist is astonishing. From Northern Ireland alone we have the heavier than heavy ‘And So I Watch You From Afar’, the dance anthem ready ‘Japanese Popstars’ and of course; Cashier No.9.
What Belfast quintet Cashier No.9 bring to the proceedings is an album which is so comfortable in its own skin that it plays out with a near constant mid-tempo pace and does so without a bother of what anyone else thinks. A hazy, yet very focused collection of songs with a rustic production that could fool one into thinking it’s many years older than it is. Adding flourishes of harmonica, piano and very restrained synthesisers to the tried and trusted set up of guitars, bass and drums. ‘To the Death of Fun’ is an album of gentle, tumbling rolls that is recorded with such lushness that the instruments weave together to create a warm, inviting wall of sound that will sweep any listener in.
The songs on ‘To the Death of Fun’ aren’t so much written as they are crafted. Not one song on the album has a single instrument leading the track; a true definition of the sum of the parts.
Opener ‘Goldstar’ takes off with all the ambitious energy of a greyhound on race night and the momentum doesn’t relent until it’s final note has rung out. ‘Make You Feel Better’ has the playful interplay between the electric and acoustic guitars. There are enough hidden nuances on this album that it takes repeated listens for it to be fully realised.
At first glance ‘Lost at Sea’ appears to be a somewhat merry song but upon digging a little deeper and giving the lyrics that bit more attention it’s revealed to be an optimistic tale of desertion. The howling harmonica is put to excellent effect with it’s sparse placement. The rolling, tumbling ‘Flick of the Wrist’ has Cashier No. 9 with it’s persistent guitar riff has them sounding like a more optimistic Fleet Foxes.
‘Oh Pity’ struts with the swagger of early Oasis but without any of the off-putting cockiness. Its relentless momentum reminiscent of opening track Goldstar albeit a darker version. Bringing the album to a gentle close is the drowsy snyth-led ‘6%’, a shoe gaze lullaby so dense you can feel it pulling you off to sleep in the most inviting possible way.
It’s quite clear this is one of the better releases in 2011, justified by it’s Meteor Choice Muis c Prize nomination, a choice we agree with, we reckon it’s got as good a shout as any and bookies has it down at time of writing as 1/3 on favourite. We won’t be surprised if they walk away with it, it would be fully deserved and be a back to back nod of the head to Northern Irish artists.