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Matt Sweeney and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - Superwolf Lou Barlow - EMOH My first encounter with Domino is when I bought Clinic’s ‘Internal Wrangler’ and from then onwards I never really looked back and have tried my best to get my grubby little hands on every possible release. One could imagine my pleasure and delight when Father Christmas plonked these three very special future releases in front of me. Be warned: each of these albums are excellent, all I’m going to do is say why. When I reviewed Hood’s ‘The Lost You’ EP I knew that the forthcoming album was going to be something. Whereas in the past Hood used to make background music, now they have become bolder, more upfront. In fact ‘Outside Closer’ is more the brash younger brother to ‘Cold House’s’ shy older sibling. The instrumentation is richer as the group is now using more traditional instruments (listen to the utter gorgeousness of ‘Any Hopeful Thoughts Arrive’ and ‘End of Train Working’ to see what I’m talking about). Yet despite the change in musical direction, the usual themes of nature and transport still dominate. By the time you reach the single ‘The Lost You’ you’ll know you have an underground classic in your hands. Now the next record is just as great and has an interesting genesis. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (Will Oldham) challenged Matt Sweeney (from Chavez) to write music to his lyrics and what can I say? There is loads of quality running throughout the whole album and not one duff track. Already the opener ‘My Name is the Sea’ will grab you and keep you hooked for the entire album’s duration. If you’ve loved the ‘Prince’s’ previous albums, then don’t make this an exception. And here is Lou Barlow, one of the great troubadours of indie-rock: Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, Folk Implosion and Sentridoh. For the past twenty odd years Barlow has been singing his lo-fi heartbreak songs and is a cult hero to those who have been following his career. Which brings us to this solo (not his first one though) effort, EMOH. If you are expecting soulful, heart torn ballads you are wrong. Instead the listener is presented with jaunty, beat-driven (as in the case of ‘Caterpillar Girl’) acoustic folk rockers. Mind you the lyrics are still the usual Barlow fare, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, on the contrary - after all he is the official poet of the lovelorn indie kid. These three releases justify two things: 1) 2005 is going to be an excellent year for music. 2) Domino will always be a label that releases excellent stuff.
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