No difficult second album for Ken McHugh’s Autamata. Short Stories builds on the blueprint of the debut LP, My Sanctuary, and takes this loose collective into new and interesting territory.
As usual, the Mayo man is joined by some seriously talented sidekicks for his musical adventures. Cathy Davey may have flown the Autamata coup to pursue her own solo career, but Tycho Brahe frontwoman Carol Keogh is back on singing and co-writing duties, featuring on no fewer than eight of the 13 songs here, and her voice proves itself once again to be a supremely effective, powerful and unique instrument.
Newcomer Sarah Verdon contributes vocals and lyrics to four tracks, while Ken steps out from behind the keyboard/computer to deliver one himself, the sentimental ‘Great For Us’. Halite mainman Graham Hopkins drums on almost half of the album, while the Modern Gospel Ensemble contribute some fine tonsil-work to the excellent ‘Liberty Bell’, more of which later.
The music veers from the disco pomp of ‘Bring It On’ to the heavy, fuzzy bass rumble of ‘Dirty Bird’, the atmospheric ‘Skimming Stones’ to the ridiculously catchy electro-pop va-va-voom of ‘The Tap’. Despite or perhaps because of the chameleonic nature of the tunes, the arrangements throughout are never short of intriguing, featuring bells, whistles, kazoos, dulcimers, wurlitzers, glockenspiels, harmoniums and whatever you’re having yourself squire: indeed, the instrumental gypsy folk of ‘Out To Sea’ features a sound that resembles nothing more (or less) than a croaking bullfrog.
The aforementioned ‘Liberty Bell’ (surely a single in waiting) is one of the warmest songs written about our capital city in some time: it also helps that it’s as infectious as genital warts, but far more pleasant. ‘Crazy’ sounds like it could almost be a hit for Britney Spears, although Sarah Verdon’s chorus comes across more Ozzy Osbourne. Speaking of choruses, this album is brimming over with some of the most addictive I’ve heard in some time, from the masterful, orchestral ‘Goldilocks’ to the dreamy ‘Summer’s Son’, which features both Keogh and Verdon on vocal duties.
Short Stories is a sumptuously produced collection of songs that veer from the subtle to the imperious, yet never meander near the middle of the road. This is not an immediate album – but live with them for a while and these Short Stories will repay your faith manifold.