Peter Gabriel by Invaderband

As one of Ireland’s most singular propositions, Invaderband have spent the last ten years crafting endlessly inspired sounds that strike a rare midpoint between art-rock and post-punk. A textbook case in point is the Derry-based quartet’s sublime second full-length, Peter Gabriel. Across eight tracks, the album hits like a wonderfully luminous distillation of what has long set the project apart.

Backed by Chris McConaghy, aka Our Krypton Son, Gavin McCartney and Tom Doherty, Adam Leonard helms a release that underscores the band’s deft and prismatic craft. It may bear the imprint of pacesetters including The Stranglers and Magazine, as well as Britpop’s finest in Supergrass and Blur, but this is a record that breaks vital new territory. Filtering influence with savvy, and two eyes fixed on the horizon, Invaderband take their rightful place in a lineage that — at its very best — has never been about “revivalism”, but following one’s instinct.

Curveballing at every juncture, Peter Gabriel brims with an effortless, earworming sensibility. Take the finely-woven surrealism of opener ‘The Carrion Herd’, or the Wire-conjuring ‘Vanity Search’. Here, and throughout, Leonard and co. wield deft hooks that burrow for days. But for all its shapeshifting mastery, a single-minded finesse takes centre-stage here — something Leonard’s lyrics effortlessly encapsulate. There’s ‘At Right Angles’, a song that tackles the sense of "being liberated by being cheated on”. Much like the single, 'I Won't Remember You', ‘People Who Are Happy Are Ill’ is an outright peak, and finds Leonard in characteristically candid form. “It’s me being extremely flippant with the subject of my mental ill-health” the frontman revealed. “In 2015, I had a prolonged period of hypomania which although great for me, almost wrecked my life.”


As its closer, 'Psychomanteum’ slickly jolts to an end, it’s obvious that Peter Gabriel is a resounding statement; not one of intent, but doing. It might well summon another time, but this is music that — to its abounding credit — doesn’t hark back at the expense of taking a great, richly rewarding step forward.

Adam Leonard has quietly – and noisily – tinkered at the edges of eccentric English folk, electronic music, and garage artrock (with Invaderband), issuing a plethora of original music to critical acclaim via highly regarded boutique labels such as The Great Pop Supplement, Northwestern Recordings, Tectona Grandis, Polytechnic Youth, Castles In Space, Bibliotapes and TDO Cassettes.

invaderband.com
themessagetapes.com
Facebook
Facebook