The vaudevillian, murder balladeering musical theatre of The Tragedy of Dr Hannigan sees the release of its inaugural LP, Fawkes Ache on November 24. Having first reared its curious little head back in July via the swaggering ‘Hey Little Worried One’, the collaboration is the self-proclaimed bastard child project of North Coast chameleonic rock troubadour par excellence Tony Wright and producer & multi-instrumentalist Dead Stevens AKA Deany Darko.
The sonic warmth of rock’n’roll fused with the cold, hard truths of the blues, it would, in the hands of anyone else, be just about any grizzled blues-rock album. But, in the same way the genius of Nick Cave’s Grinderman lies in its total & utter conviction, this nine-track traipse veers into every corner of swampy, soul-soaked blues and folk.
Fawkes Ache is a largely collaborative affair, featuring guest vocals from the likes of Donal Scullion, Anthony Toner, King Cedar and Jackie Rainey. With track titles including the masterfully worded ‘Dishing Out Hadoukens’ and ‘Busking Outside Payday Loans’, it’s a sonically dense release of unrelenting no-fucks-given spirit in a world that, as far as we can see, at least, has the tendency to take itself a little too seriously too much of the time.
Stream Fawkes Ache below:
‘Fawkes Ache’ is out now. The full band album launch show takes place at Belfast’s Empire Music Hall on November 8, with support from No Oil Paintings, Aidan Logan and Whale Talk – full details here.
