Anthony Furey & The Young Folk, I’ve Been Here Before
Posted on 21st Apr 10 by Connor Moloney | 
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Despite, or perhaps because of, their overwhelming popularity in this country over the past decade, “singer-songwriter” is almost a dirty word these days; seen to symbolise bland, whiny commercial dirge-mongers ploughing a familiar yet unimaginative furrow with no sense of innovation or adventure, good perhaps, to service the tired and emotional after particularly messy bank holiday weekends, but little else. Which is a shame, because, as this remarkably assured debut from Dubliner Anthony Furey and his various cohorts shows, there is still a lot of life to be teased out of the old form yet.
Despite, or perhaps because of, their overwhelming popularity in this country over the past decade, “singer-songwriter” is almost a dirty word these days. It is seen to symbolise bland, whiny commercial dirge-mongers ploughing a familiar yet unimaginative furrow with no sense of innovation or adventure, good perhaps, to service the tired and emotional after particularly messy bank holiday weekends, but little else. Which is a shame, because, as this remarkably assured debut from Dubliner Anthony Furey and his various cohorts shows, there is still a lot of life to be teased out of the old form yet.
Anthony Furey & The Young Folk
Lead single Biscuits showcases Furey’s knack for a simple tune, building its beautifully understated single line melody towards a climactic tour de force ending without ever becoming overblown. The more fragile Grafton St. pulls a similar trick, as does Adjust, a rumination on the end of a relationship reminiscent of Damien Rice but without his toe-curling tendency towards self-loathing.
Indeed, there is no escaping Furey’s indebtedness to the past decade’s glut of Irish singer-songwriters, and songs like the Glen Hansard-esque Hold On might well invoke a a few knowing sneers from the hipster brigade. Nonetheless, the quality of the material generally renders such concerns churlish, and there are a few welcome detours into less well travelled territtory, such a the countrified likes of Way Home and Sad Day, or the Fleet Foxes-style nu-folk of My Friends, while the jazz infused piano and wheezing violin of Hold Her Down recalls some of Ryan Adam‘s darker work.
While not the most original of albums, the surefootedness of I’ve Been Here Before marks Anthony Furey out as a songwriter who does the simple things rather beautifully, and that is becoming an all too rare skill these days. As long as there are bank holiday hangovers, we will always need albums like this.
Drop-d Rating 8/10
Anthony Furey & The Young Folk
Tags: Adjust, Anthony Furey & The Young Folk, Biscuits, Damien Rice, Fleet Foxes, Glen Hansard, Grafton St, Hold Her Down, I've Been Here Before, My Friends, Sad Day, Way Home
nice review and well deserved. The album launch was a superb night of music,poetry and what not. 10/10.