Danny O’Reilly picks over the end of his relationship with television presenter Laura Whitmore on this strident and angry new album from the Dublin rockers
This fourth album of tub-thumping `men of destiny’ rock won’t win any prizes for reinvention for The Coronas and as ever, your fondness for the Dublin four piece will hinge on whether you’re a fan of frontman Danny O’Reilly’s breast-beating vocals.
However, there is no gainsaying the sheer emotional whack of these new songs, many of which hang forlornly on O’Reilly break-up with television presenter Laura Whitmore. He examines the aftermath of romance with a mix of hurt and hope, and from the scorn of At The Same Time (“maybe someday we’ll be introduced as friends, but I have my doubts”), to the hymnal If I gave Myself to Someone Else, this blunt examination of the end of love is certainly emotionally raw. Romance? It's a jungle out there!
The Coronas: Not quite going underground
Two tracks on the band’s last album, Closer to You and Blind Will Lead The Blind, hinted that there was perhaps more to The Coronas than competent radio rock and here, the title track recalls bitter-sweet pop classicists Badfinger, and Get Loose, a stonking anthem with a killer hook, is genuinely inspiring stuff. Best of all though is the pretty acoustic-and-strings ballad Tell Me Again which has a McCartneyesque simplicity to it.
Produced to within an inch of its life, maybe too many of these new songs are too busy making a dash to the next chorus and the next payoff - How This Goes should really have been left as a fan club b-side. The gears are jammed in melodic rock mode which is just fine and what The Coronas lack in risk-taking they make up for with an album that’s impressively grown-up and brief to the point of pissed-off terseness.
The Coronas, or at least their lead singer, have got the blues and they sound all the better for it. The Long Way Home deserves some kind of international lift-off.
Alan Corr
