Though originally hailing from the north of England, Mark Chester has been a stalwart of Ireland’s DIY indie scene for years now. As an integral part of Dublin’s Popical Island collective, Chester has had countless production credits among the label’s roster and beyond, as well as performing in bands like No Monster Club, Grand Pocket Orchestra, and most notably his own project, Ginnels, quietly perhaps Popical Island’s crowning glory. While primarily a one-man band on record, the live band contained the likes of Paddy Hanna, No Monster Club’s Bobby Aherne and Squarehead members Roy Duffy and Ruan van Vliet, the latter finally drafted into the studio to add some more professional drumming on last (and possibly finest) LP A Country Life back in 2014. But while once prolific (see 2012’s sprawling double album Crowns for evidence), after a split EP with Tangible Excitement in 2016 and a handful more gigs, Ginnels seemed to finally fizzle out.
Not that Chester hasn’t remained busy in the intervening years – as well as continuing to work on other people’s records such as last year’s excellent Oh Boland album, he’s recorded two albums as a member of Paddy Hanna-fronted experimentalists Autre Monde, as well as juggling real-life concerns like fatherhood and gainful employment. But Autre Monde’s all too premature breakup last year has paved the way for Chester to step back up to the mic for Ginnels’ long-awaited second chapter.
While early Ginnels records tended to weave between the perpetual nervousness of The Feelies and the fuzzed-out, lo-fi sugar rush of Guided by Voices, the Ginnels we encounter on new album The Picturesque sound older and wiser, closer to the more ruminative jangle pop of The Go-Betweens or early R.E.M. The pace has slowed a little, particularly on wistful single ‘Johnny Thunders Said’, and fuzz pedals are largely neglected throughout, but from the first warbling strums of opener ‘The Body Was Gone’ we hear some the lushest guitar tones Chester has put to tape to date. The upbeat jangle of ‘Narrator’ though sounds a lot like the Ginnels of old, infectious vocal melodies intact.
As ever, Chester plays almost every instrument himself, with drums this time handled by Autre Monde bandmate Eoghan O’Brien, but any scrappiness of the band’s earliest material is firmly left behind in favour Chester’s now more dense and luscious production.
A less immediate Ginnels record than we might be used to, that old instant sugar rush of melody has been replaced with something more slow-burning, as tracks like lead single ‘Promise to Never’ and the sweet ‘Nothing Doing’ gradually work their way under your skin over time spent in their company. But after a few plays, The Picturesque reveals itself as a considered and natural progression from A Country Life that happily lives up to anything they’ve done before. It’s great to have them back. Cathal McBride
The Picturesque is out via Tenorio Cotobade on 7th February. Pre-order it here.
