A Dark Horse
From Dublin in Eire we find the duo of James Parker (Vocal / Guitar) and Hugh Rodgers (Guitar / Vocal / Banjo / Bouzouki / Piano / Organ) with friends: Niall Woods (Percussion / Drums); Adrian Mullan (Drum Kit); Luke Slott (Piano); Vyvienne Long (Cello) and Adrian Mullan Snr. (Accordion) aka A Dark Horse.
A Dark Horse – Photo by Adrian Mullan
Well you can tell from that list this isn’t going to be a metal band. The material drifts out of the speakers like mist rising from a bog, enchanting and seemingly mere whispers of vaporization but suddenly the room is enshrouded in the dulcet notes emerging and as they wrap the ears in a layer of felt so the mind becomes attuned to the comforting blanket. There is an engaging bubble wrap which comes with A Dark Horse, for no reason other than, you must, so the mind wants to lend itself to hear the muted sounds emerging which engage and encapsulate.
There is an indiscernible joy when you find yourself in a space that you know shouldn’t be comfortable, but somehow it fits like a glove. I am reminded of a yellow Marcos Mantula, I used to own, just an smidgen above the ground, incredibly uncomfortable absolutely unreliable, but – once the engine purred in to life and the hands gripped the steering the wheel and the exhaust did its thing, life felt superb and the rest of the world was just an irrelevant space and all the jarring disappeared, so I sit with A Dark Horse, this should be un-engaging, but far from it, the more I press the figurative accelerator the better it becomes.
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