You had me at Lemoncello. Or, to be more truthful, you had me at this description of their second album:
“They are love songs sent towards people near and far away. Holding on together somehow with a big heart…If one lets go, two fall off.”
Perfect Place originated in what seems to be a perfect place: a cabin overlooking the Skellig Islands off the southwest coast of Kerry. If you’ve been looking for an album to listen to as you gaze at distant rocky fragments while contemplating the fleeting beauty of existence, then look no further. The Dublin-based duo Laura Quirke and Claire Kinsella – AKA Lemoncello – have created a work of art that will smother your heart.
That said, ‘Clear Eyes Open Ready’ is a minute-long intertwining of strings that could soundtrack an ashen-faced outcast approaching their fate at the gallows, or the dusty, bone-ridden aftermath of a village slaughter in World War II. The strings bleed into ‘Articulate Animal’, which is less Schindler’s List and more Braveheart. “Do not listen to the words I say / Listen only to the tone of them,” sings Quirke, and you’ll be delighted to follow her advice – her voice and Kinsella’s cello are a heavenly blend that render words as sonic components instead of parcels of meaning.
At the centre of ‘At The Edge’ is detuned guitar à la Nick Drake. “At the edge” is a refrain as well as a gateway to mysterious images. “Womb song singing from the underworld / No idea what it means” – you won’t care what the song means, such is its delicious ambiguity. In complete contrast, ‘Karaoke Night’ recalls specific memories: “But the Beyoncés in the room / They all got behind me / Dancing on the tables / In Chinatown Los Angeles.” As we all know, memories can be postcards from Pity Town, which is not to diminish the profundity of their messages. “I waste time all the time / The biggest mistake that a human can make / But I didn’t waste any time I spent with you.” It might be wise to dodge the liquor while listening to ‘Karaoke Night’, as your wailing may upset the neighbours.
First single ‘Meet Me Halfway’ begins with beamed in yearning that’s similar to the start of Beth Orton’s ‘She Cries Your Name’. The picked acoustic guitar is as swooningly gorgeous as much of Kings of Convenience’s debut album Quiet is The New Loud, and you’ll be humming the chorus melody in your dreams. If ‘Meet Me Halfway’ isn’t soundtracking a starry night scene in a visual adaptation of a Sally Rooney novel within the next five years, please write to your Member of Parliament.
Mark Fisher wrote that we should be haunted by the “not yet of the futures that popular modernism trained us to expect.” Arthur Schopenhauer wrote that most people discover when they look back on their life that they have been “living the whole time ad interim, and are surprised to see that which they let go by so unregarded and unenjoyed was precisely their life.” Neither of these quotes are especially relevant in relation to the Lemoncello track ‘Tomorrow Nostalgia’, but they did seem meaningful five minutes ago. Anyway, said track has the aural atmosphere of early 2000s Zero 7 and the philosophical weight of your usual grumpy mid-19th century German intellectual: “Spent too long / Dreaming about tomorrow / Now tomorrow’s in the past / Problem is if the moment’s already over / It’s never gonna last.”
‘Unfinished Business’ is an unfurling, like sheet clouds drifting in front of the sun. Talking of which, the final lyrics are: “Give me one more morning / Sitting in the sunshine with you.” Cue piano that may jolt Thomas Newman into American Beauty 2 one-upmanship, and cello more aching than a branch trembling under the weight of a million artists’ expectations. As suggested by its title, ‘Misadventure’ reflects on travel: “Holiday all alone in Greece… / It was a silly little reason anyway / Silly ‘til proven good.” Misadventures tend to become adventures when they’re immortalised in song by supremely talented Irish musicians.
“I’m just someone / Who wants the world to stop / Screaming it down /As the bombs drop.” Funnily enough, this has been my same diary entry for the past 23 years. It would have been much less tedious and far more fulfilling to write a beautiful acoustic song like ‘White Flag’. “Be nice to start off in / The Perfect Place / But life isn’t like that.” Fair enough, but ending an album with ‘The Perfect Place’ will more than do. Quirke sings softly as if she’s mindful of mum and dad getting woken up, and Kinsella’s longing cello is married with pleasantly frazzled Stina Nordenstam ‘Little Star’-like guitar.
The album cover for Perfect Place appears to show the members of Lemoncello holding on to some awful contraption for dear life. Holding on together somehow with a big heart…If one lets go, two fall off. Everybody hurts, but don’t throw your hand. Or rather, throw your hand into your wallet and purchase Perfect Place. Your heart will feel better for it.
Perfect Place is out now via Claddagh Records
Lemoncello: Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook
Gigs:
Mon 11 May – Bristol, UK (Joshua Burnside support)
Tue 12 May – Theatreship, London, UK (Album Launch Headline Show)
29–31 May – Night & Day Festival, Roscommon, IE
24–26 July – Deer Shed Festival, UK
23–26 July – WOMAD Festival, UK
Wed 23 Sept – Cyprus Avenue, Cork, IE
Fri 25 Sept – The Button Factory, Dublin, IE
Sun 27 Sept – Spirit Store, Dundalk, IE
Wed 30 Sept – Róisín Dubh, Galway, IE
Thu 1 Oct – Cleere’s, Kilkenny, IE
Fri 2 Oct – Phil Grimes, Waterford, IE
Tue 6 Oct – Glad Cafe, Glasgow, UK
Wed 7 Oct – Gullivers, Manchester, UK
Thu 8 Oct – The Attic, Leeds, UK
Fri 9 Oct – Hallamshire Hotel, Sheffield, UK
Sun 11 Oct – Peggys Skylight, Nottingham, UK
Tue 13 Oct – Kitchen Garden Cafe, Birmingham, UK
Wed 14 Oct – Architect, Bristol, UK
Thu 15 Oct – St Pancras Old Church, London, UK
Fri 16 Oct – Folklore Rooms, Brighton, UK
Sun 18 Oct – The Wight Bear, Southbourne, UK
Thu 22 Oct – Limelight 1, Belfast, UK
Review by Neil Laurenson
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