Having supported Gaz Coombes at Cyprus Avenue on Saturday night – an apt local/international pairing if there ever was one – Cork four-piece The Shaker Hymn look back on a two month U.S. road trip as the spur for their de facto formation in 2012 having made “rudimentary teenage noises” since 2005. To say the least, the imprint of this rather curious, drawn-out gestation period shines through on the band’s new single, ‘Sucking It Out’. Revealing a band who seem to know each other’s musical anatomy inside out, it’s a perfectly discriminating release, tipping its hat to the likes of QOTSA’s more undemanding, subtly swaggering songs and latter-day Arctic Monkeys. Better said, it’s straight-up rock n’ roll done very well, without shirking the urge to make it their very own.
The Shaker Hymn will release their forthcoming second album, Do You Think You’re Clever, in 2016. They also play Kilkenny’s Brewery Corner with Damsel on Friday, December 11.
