The Last Crossing - Brian McGilloway

The new novel by New York Times Bestselling author, Brian McGilloway, THE LAST CROSSING is out in April 2020 from Dome Press.

It is always fascinating how writers totally miss your radar, perhaps it is the region you live in, maybe you only like crime and legal thrillers so if someone likes only Jojo Moyes or Mike Gayle they may never have picked up a John Grisham or Lee Child.

Being a book blog reviewer and living part-time on book-Twitter (does Twitter have a PO Box for my postage), you see threads and trends quicker than you would if you relied upon magazines or book clubs as you may have done 20 years previously.  The growth of book reading has increased by the advent of kindles and other reading devices being available. As a reader, I give myself a challenge of percentage now, minimum 10% a sitting, a winning book is one that makes me forget about those short-term goals and next thing you know a quarter of the book has been consumed.

By making contacts on book twitter you get links and emails a plenty, one such piece of luck was this title THE LAST CROSSING being extended to me by Dome Press. As a well read person, I have never heard of McGilloway and upon research the reason is that he is from Ireland. A fine country with a distinctive history of crime and thriller writing, but his name is not one familiar to English writers, despite him being the author of ten novels to date, this is his first standalone novel following the DS Lucy Black thrillers and Inspector Devlin mysteries.

Brian McGilloway - Author of The Last Crossing

Personally, though this is a great book. This reader consumed this book in approximately three sittings, the writer creating a simple story with the now familiar two parallel storylines taking place thirty years apart featuring the same set of characters as a big decision.

Set in Northern Ireland, but with the majority of action being focused to a forest in remote Scotland, McGilloway takes the story of four individuals drawn together by the troubles in Derry and how they can be resolved. Sometimes the truth cannot be buried for long; and it stays with you as McGilloway attests to in this episode of The Essay on BBC Radio 3.

Tony, Hugh and Karen thought they had seen the last of each other thirty years previously, yet the past comes back to haunt them again. So on another journey together to lay ghosts to rest, the three come to terms with their actions from before and learn a bit more about themselves and each other.

The internal journey Tony must travel is a well told one, yet McGilloway has crafted a tale built around the central theme of cliché - ghosts from the past, regret of actions, loss and the impact of memory - yet a tale that is unlike anything digested before.

The Last Crossing is quite simply a brilliant piece of fiction, which is both gripping and riveting in equal measure.  The story is so economical you forget how much detail he weaves into each page making the narrative zip along at a pace that is at times breakneck and necessary.

Cannot recommend this novel highly enough.

The Last Crossing is out from Dome Press on April 2nd 2020.

My thanks to Dome Press for the review opportunity.

Buster Keaton: 3 Films (Volume 2)

Eureka Video continue their stupendous work of essential silent films, releasing their second volume of Buster Keaton gems in a three-film volume pack.

Between 1920 and 1929, Buster Keaton created a peerless run of feature films that established him as “arguably the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies”. Collected here are three further films from that era; The Navigator, Seven Chances and Battling Butler. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present all three films from stunning 4K restorations in their UK debuts on Blu-ray.

The Navigator (1924, dir. Buster Keaton & Donald Crisp) – Wealthy Rollo Treadway (Keaton) suddenly decides to propose to his neighbour across the street, Betsy O'Brien (Kathryn McGuire), and sends his servant to book passage for a honeymoon sea cruise to Honolulu. When Betsy rejects his sudden offer however, he decides to go on the trip anyway, boarding without delay that night. Because the pier number is partially covered, he ends up on the wrong ship, the Navigator, which Betsy's rich father has just sold to a small country at war. Keaton was unhappy with the audience response to Sherlock Jr., and endeavoured to make a follow-up that was both exciting and successful. The result was the biggest hit of Keaton's career.  

Seven Chances (1925, dir. Buster Keaton) – Jimmy Shannon (Keaton) learns he is to inherit seven million dollars, with a catch. He will only get the money if he is married by 7pm on his 27th birthday, which happens to be that same day! What follows is an incredible series of escalating set-pieces that could only have come from the genius of Buster Keaton. 

Battling Butler (1926, dir. Buster Keaton) – A rich, spoiled dandy (Keaton) pretends to be a champion boxer, "Battling Butler", to impress the family of the girl he loves. When the real Butler shows up, he decided to humiliate the imposter by having him fight the "Alabama Murderer”!

While Keaton is perhaps lauded in equal measure of his peer, Charlie Chaplin, at the time he was not as commercially successful, to think that something like Sherlock Jr. did not strike a chord with the film-going public, whereas Chaplin could dance with potatoes and have them rolling in laughter.

Whereas, Chaplin would do things you have never seen before and perhaps be based more in the realms of disbelief, Keaton was more of the everyday comedian taking moments of domesticity and turning them on their head such as the making of food in The Navigator, his character is a toff and has no idea how to open tinned foods making for hilarious results.

While Chaplin would marvel you with his performance and pin-point detail, Keaton's films are more indebted to the plot and narrative, how a character overcomes an obstacle with the situation playing out over a script while Chaplin would have stand along set pieces away from the central plot. Not to say Keaton does not have his moments, but the set-piece comes as a gradual build up to such a key moment; this is helped by his iconic stone face persona granting no reaction or change of perception.

Keaton also has this realistic mentality in his work, not a lot of good fortune befalls his protagonists until the eventual happy resolution, bad luck seemingly follows him wherever he goes but he struggles through it all gamely, while Chaplin would smile and move on to the next disaster zone of his own making more than likely.

Keaton's influence is unparalleled and perhaps has lasted longer than Chaplin, his work has very much had a say in the work of Wes Anderson; the set pieces and the nature of performance particularly can be seen in Ralph Fiennes role in The Grand Budapest Hotel in terms of physicality and tonality of that film in general.

Buster Keaton: 3 Films (Volume 2) is out now from Eureka Video in a Limited Edition 60-page Perfect Bound Collector’s Book and Limited Edition Hardbound Slipcase [3000 copies ONLY].

My thanks to them for the review opportunity

Lewsberg - In This House

New album from Dutch quartet Lewsberg released from Cargo Records Distribution on March 27th

Very much along the same lines of recent releases, sparse, on paper disjointed but when a group is allowed to play out an idea it becomes something bigger and greater sum of its parts.

Another example of the strength in numbers in vogue at moment bands which have more than the traditional four person set up. From Black Country, New Road to Pet Shimmers bands are not afraid to have more people on stage to create a sense of community and togetherness making for a richer sounding collaborative effort, in essence a feast for the earlobes.

Lewsberg are akin to the other albums released today by Activity and FACS, songs that are struck by the discord of the individual in a woe begotten society and expressing themselves in a cultural art form

The Dutch group find it in making songs about drinking at lunchtime and they are very much a band who are not forcing ideas to happen and yet if you stay with them, the persistence and perserverance will pay off in dividends.

While it does not reach the heights of the aforementioned releases from the American bands, Lewsberg have nevertheless created an album that is great for the headphones and if you want to forget about the troubles of today.

In This House is out on 27th March on all formats from Cargo Records Distribution

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

FACS Interview

FACS release their third album on 27th March from Trouble in Mind records, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brian Case, guitarist of the band and a Chicago native. Read my review of VOID MOMENTS here

• What is the history of FACS and what is he MO of the group?

FACS formed out of the ashes of Disappears, no real trajectory or mission in mind just wanted to continue making music in relatively the same direction we were headed with Disappears. In that regard, there was no real MO other than letting things play out as they happen and not forcing any ideas into a certain box. That said, we like playing with limitations and having self-imposed constraints.

• How did the three of you come together?

We've all been friends for almost 20 years at this point, mostly through our various bands playing together over the years and community spaces like Empty Bottle and the Rainbo Club. We've all been working musicians that whole time so it was easy to connect and use our shared interests/experiences to make something together.

• How long was the recording process for this album?

Three days to track, I think it was about three days mixing as well but we weren't there for that part.

• Do you go in with an idea of what you want to record or does it come together when you start in the studio?

We try and leave room for both. It's nice to go in and get warmed up with what you know, ideas with some structure or familiarity, but we like to leave as much time to experiment and get uncomfortable or out of our zone. They're equally important in our process.

• What did you listen to when you were growing up?

It was just what I had access to, my parent's record collection, mostly radio. By the time I was a teenager I was almost exclusively listening to whatever Dischord Records was releasing, mixtapes by friends, The Smiths, Sonic Youth.

• What do you listen to nowadays?

It's all over the place, I'm as curious as ever but I'm still as much influenced by my initial sources as I ever was. Today I listened to Wayne Phoenix, Alternative TV, Shabaka and the Ancestors, The Native Cats, Alabaster Deplume, and Fugazi (so far).

• What is your hope for the album now the power of touring has been restricted?

I just want people to listen to it, hopefully in one sitting with no distractions. We don't really have an agenda other than making music and challenging what we think it is we do. Even touring, which we love, is not the priority, it's moving forward and making something unexpected or unknown.

• How do you see the music industry changing due to Covid-19? Are you worried as recording artists?

I'm hoping C-19 changes everything, the whole world. We all need to wake up and look at what we do day to day and figure out how to make things sustainable for the future. In this country there's a lot that needs to be broken down and rebuilt, the music industry included. I hope this forced self isolation is the first step in people looking outside of their own immediate field of vision for a way to move the world forward. We're the virus.

• Chicago Deep Pan or New York slice?

Chicago Deep Dish is trash, disgusting. New York slice is supreme. That said I will never live anywhere else, I firmly believe Chicago is the best city in the world, NYC being a close second.

Go seek out merch and material from FACS bandcamp page here.
Void Moments is out now on all formats

My thanks as always to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Margaret Glaspy - Devotion

Second album from American songstress Margaret Glaspy via ATO Records

The album is a collection of a dozen compositions that are about love coming in when you do not expect it, there is a soulful to this record in contrast to her debut 'Emotions and Math' which had a grittier sound and purpose. This is a record which has an energy of its own.

Songs that take on a life of their own, starting soft then becoming more universal as they ferment in the ether, much like the opening salvo 'Killing What Keeps Us Alive' a song that takes on this political comment but has a very personal energy to it due to the auto-tune nature with it being stripped back led by Glaspy's hypnotic vocal lead.

The distant cousin of Alanis Morisette's Jagged Little Pill but perhaps without the vitriol against men, this is an album that shows an artist spreading her creative wings and going for broke by putting her heart on the table and coming up trumps.

From the winning 'Without Him' and 'You've Got My Number' there is a yearning for love and the importance of love between two people, how a relationship can bring the best out of someone culminating in the brilliant 'Devotion' a song that is both about strength in each other and yourself.

Devotion is out from ATO Records on Friday 27th March.

My thanks as always to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Where The Innocent Die - MJ Lee

Book Four in the DI Ridpath series by MJ Lee out 23rd March from Canelo Press

Author Lee, is quickly becoming one of the most prolific crime writers these shores have seen in recent years in partnership with Canelo Press.

Featuring a different sort of hero in the form of DI Thomas Ridpath, Lee has created a new kind of everyman, a hero without a cape.

Ridpath, following his remission from cancer was placed in the Coroner's office to still have him active but not fully a police officer.  This new role allows him to investigate without fully being a copper, but you cannot teach an old dog new tricks with Ridpath's smell for justice never leaving him.

This book revolves around the supposed suicide of a Chinese woman who is awaiting deportation. One Saturday night she is found with her throat cut in her cell, which was unlocked. Ridpath suspects something is not quite right with the situation at the Deportation Centre; from the low staffing levels, CCTV cameras not working correctly and more evidence appearing in a second post-mortem, Ridpath feels the young woman deserves justice.

While exposition is sometimes repeated, you cannot fault the break neck pacing of the plot and RIP roaring finale would put Line of Duty to shame.

Lee continues to entertain and excite leaving this reader highly anticipated for Book 5 with Ridpath again at a crossroads career wise, whereas with Lee it is full steam ahead.

Where The Innocent Die is out from Canelo Press on 23rd March in all formats

FACS - Void Moments

Chicago trio, FACS, release 27th March by Trouble in Mind records

The trio comprise of Brian Case (guitarist), Noah Leger (drummer) and Alianna Kalaba (bassist) - the two men were in Disappears before the dissolution of that band an they made a 2017 debut entitled Negative Houses. The addition of Kalaba led to 2018's Lifelike.

They return with Void Moments, perhaps there most accessible album thus far - featuring songs that are less oblique and open to interpretation yet still featuring the darkness of their roots.

The album is full of these clashes - light and darkness, beauty and harshness, deafening din and softness - none more so encapsulated than in lead single 'Teenage Hive' and the follow up 'Casual Indifference'

There is a hypnotic quality to the compositions starting with opener 'Boy' a track that is both pulsating and full of flow, one thing this album could never be accused of would be lacking in energy which is infectious and careens through the seven tracks on the album.

'Teenage Hive' is one of those such infectious tracks, a riveting bassline and guitar thrash running through the core of the track that creates this sonic surge, no wonder it was the lead single.

'Casual Indifference' is the epitome of this brutal post-punk music and perhaps the standout of the album - a combination of art rock (see Activity release also) and emo shoegaze, it has a hook on you that will not let go.

FACS are a band who are searching for answers in this messy world, trying to make sense of their place and what purpose if any does this type of industrial heavy rock music have anymore.

Yet the musicianship of the trio really comes to the fore, a tightness as a group that cannot be matched plus there is a certain kind of joy coming through the airwaves in their unity together to create this unique soundscape.

Void Moments is out on 27th March from Trouble In Mind records and the bandcamp website.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.