Gillicuddy: The Repeating Thoughts of Old Zinng-Zanng
Resting Bell

Andi Rohden characterizes his gillicuddy output as “grumpy folk with a grin” but, truth be told, it's less grumpy than mischievous (despite the opening song's first words “Shut your mouth everyone…”). The release's five tracks (identified by the Roman letters I to V) total less than nine minutes, the third piece is in fact ten seconds of silence, and—wait for it—the third and fourth songs are the first two presented a second time—“repeating thoughts” indeed. Though the release therefore amounts to a scant four minutes of material, the two songs do provide a very pleasing four minutes of fragile, vocal-based acoustic folk in a style reminiscent of The Notwist. In the melancholic “I,” Rohden enhances his soft, double-tracked vocal with piano embellishments and electric guitar touches, and brightens the lilting waltz rhythm of the second piece with glockenspiel. “the repeating thoughts of old zinng-zanng” can be purchased as a three-inch CD-R which includes the five audio tracks and a data-track with mp3 tracks, video, and pictures and comes packed in a metal-box with hand-ripped labels, or, as with all Resting Bell releases, the release's material can be downloaded for free (under the creative commons license) from the net label's site.

July 2009