PENNYEACH
GRACIE B
Release Date: 22nd Nov, 1999Cat No: DISCO9911
Format: CDS
MOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
In a bedroom in Nottingham, two young men are making sad music. They are making sad music because it is now autumn and it's getting darker and colder. People with nothing better to occupy their minds are starting to suffer from Seasonally Adjusted Disorder (S.A.D. for short, you see) and crave just such a melancholy soundtrack to their days of dark introspection. And there's nothing so much fun as kicking people when they're down, is there?
The two men in question are Eoin Gaffney and Ed Dodd. They like The Smiths, Tom Waits and reading books. Poetry books at that. Together they're called Pennyeach. It's a name they got from a book of poetry, obviously. (James Joyce if you're interested). And you're probably already thinking that their dislikes include going outside and meeting people. But you'd be wrong. Instead, they hate bright lights and big dogs.
But they are a couple of wimps, yes? Well, Ed is a vegetarian and used to be a choirboy, but Eoin grew up on a diet of heavy metal. He did get run over by a bike, coming out confession once though, and neither of them has ever managed to hold down a steady job, so yeah, you're probably right.
Forget all that though. This debut single, "Gracie B", is lovely. Somewhere between Marc Almond and Belle & Sebastian - slightly haunted and stuffed full of sweet, gentle sorrow. A little something for pale, skinny boys and girls to cry along to during another long night alone.
Actually we're joking. It's a cover version of an old Judas Priest track.