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Those Bell X1 lads are busy boys. Not content with releasing albums at a prolific rate while constantly touring, Paul Noonan is about to launch a side project call Printer Clips, while in the Unitarian Church, Dave Geraghty gave an early road test to tunes from his own solo project, Join Me In The Pines.
A project that he’s been working on for the past 18 months in his own home studio, it was quite the successful run out too. Geraghty showed off his impressive mastery of a range of instruments including guitar, piano, banjo and harmonica before notably including a ukulele cove of a Prince song at the end of the set. In a recurring gag throughout the set Geraghty made several joking references to his own Prince-like name change.
His relaxed stage manner, borne from years on stages all over the world, comes across well to those sitting quietly and appreciatively in the church pews as he plays through stripped back versions of what will become the new album, assisted by a revolving cast of guest musicians.
While not blessed with the most powerful voice, there’s a plaintive fragility to it that suits the songs and the setting exceedingly well. ‘Golden Guilt’ is a particularly fine song that features some excellent interplay between guitar and piano while Geraghty drew some laughs from the audience with some comical guitar hero poses at the start of ‘Joy Is A Lion’, the first single to be released from the album.
Perhaps the best song of the night was ‘Backseat’. A song inspired (as most of the songs seem to be) by growing up in his home town of Leixlip, it’s a beautiful country influenced duet that lifts the room.
Conscious that as we’re in a church it’s a dry gig, Geraghty didn’t keep the crowd too long and the show is done in just over an hour. He seemed anxious for a pint himself and he certainly deserved one after an enjoyable insight into an interesting work in progress.
This article originally appeared on dublinconcerts.ie on 14 April 2014
Mark O'Brien 