Just as one should never judge a book by its cover, a band should not be immediately dismissed on their name, however uninspiring. The Maladies may have taken their name from a Tom Waits song, but frankly it’s is a rather wearisome name in light of the Strokes/Datsuns/Whoevers explosion. Fortunately for the Dublin five-piece, their debut album is comprised of an array of songs that frankly belies their unassuming and unimaginative moniker.
The points of reference are plentiful and diverse…there are slight evocations of Tom Waits’ and Ryan Adams’ guttural barstool musings coursing through the album. The album starts promisingly enough with ‘Ocean Song’, an atmospheric and esoteric soundscape of a track, and manages to impress further still with ‘Closing Time’, a lush, lilting marriage of piano keys and guitar that would make even Chris Martin proud. ‘She Said’ seems wrought of the stuff that made bands like Gallon Drunk and The Birthday Party great, while ‘Amuse’ is slightly reminiscent of the understated euphoria of Norwegian maverick Magnet. The Maladies seem imbued with a self-assurance and musical articulacy that most debut albums fail to deliver, and while it suffers the odd dip in quality – the lukewarm ‘Follow You’ is a case in point – it’s refreshing to find a band on one’s own doorstep that have found their voice, as well as a unique way to use it, with such impressive sleight of hand.