Pebbledash: Cork alt-rockers in portrait with new EP

“THE writing of the songs started with me not being a Corkonian, kind of an outsider,” says Pebbledash frontman and guitarist Fionnbharr Hickey. “They all originated as I was trying to find my place and find my way, I guess, in the city. They developed over a year or two years, both lyrically and musically, ’til they got to where they are now, and I guess that was informed by what I saw, the people I met.”

If there’s one sense that’s evident in the music of the city-based alt-rockers, it is, in fact, one of place. The cover of upcoming extended-player ‘Four Portraits of the Same Ugly House’ makes literal and aesthetic reference to home and the familiar, while their sound is both a gallop into the future envisioned by noisemakers like ‘My Bloody Valentine’ and ‘Sonic Youth’, and a musing on how the existential condition of Irishness finds its way amid ever-changing circumstances.

“’Four Portraits’ songs are these paintings of, I guess, moments, things I would have experienced, and whatnot. I would have written the songs virtually by myself, but then we developed them together, tried to get all our influences in there and hide them as well as we could, put our own swing on things. I guess the recording process of them as well, also informed how they turned out. A lot of time you could go in and record something, and it sounds like how you expected. I think this time, there was a lot of exploring going on at the same time, I suppose."

Recorded and produced at musician and producer Aidan O’Mahony’s Kitten Lane studio in Cork city centre, the EP’s sessions marked the beginning of a new phase for a promising young band, a

s a change of line-up brought along new members and an expanded sonic palette, with Hickey’s ideas following suit.

“I think we went into the studio to begin recording these tracks only maybe a couple of months after I joined the band,” says drummer Eoin Schuck, “and then probably even more shortly after for Asha (Egan-McCutcheon, vocalist), who joined a few weeks after I did. There was a lot of developing the songs, and changing arrangements, especially our most recent single, ‘Slowly, Slowly’. I think there was a whole ‘B-section of that song that was introduced due to a process of thinking about that song more as we were recording it, jamming in the studio. I think there were a lot of shifts in terms of how we were thinking about those songs, from when we were playing them live, to when we recorded them.”

Your writer can’t help but double-back to the idea of balancing that experimentation and fearlessness with a decidedly Hiberno-inspired outlook in recent times, one that’s resurfaced in recent times with the release of their version of sean-nós song ‘Carraig Aonair’ — at a time when Irish musicians of all genres are staking their claim in the wider world on their terms, it feels as though musicians of their generation are stepping boldly into the fray with a sense of pride.

“Yeah, I think it’s a key part, especially for Asha, she would bring the whole tradition of sean-nós singing [to the band’s sound] and even myself, having originated in playing in trad bands,” says Hickey. I think, for any Irish band, it’s almost unavoidable. There’s very few bands, I think, whether it’s something to do with their image or songwriting or whatever, that it doesn’t leak in, in some way. But I think at the same time, we did ‘Carrig Aonair’, and I think as well as it being the droney, sean-nós thing, we’re also exploring what we could do, noise-wise as well.

“There’s already a lot of exceptional artists and bands, Lankum, John Francis Flynn, Róis, Ye Vagabonds, and they reside a lot more within folk, so I think for us, it’s more focusing maybe on the aesthetic, the theatre and storytelling part of it, rather than necessarily, like taking every nice sean-nós song there is and putting guitars and drums to them.”

“Even in terms of the recording process for ‘Carraig Aonair’”, adds synth man Cormac Donovan O’Neill, “that’s our own take on the traditional song, a song that Asha, in her solo capacity, before joining the band, had performed for many years, and means a lot to her. But in terms of our references for recording that track, as well as elements of that tradition, we were also thinking about, y’know, no-wave, early Sonic Youth, and those kind-of references for the noise, feedback and textures that we explored.”

Releasing at the end of the month, ‘Four Portraits…’ is also set to exist in physical formats via Galway indie label Blowtorch Records, a home to alternative rock in Ireland of many hues, who are handling distribution duties on CD and 12” vinyl in an expanded version, that will also include the band’s ‘Killer Lover/Carraig Aonair’ double-A-side as a pair of bonus tracks.

“It’s everyone’s dream to be able to hold your own vinyl,” says Hickey, “and it actually came about relatively quickly.

“We were playing a gig in Dublin, and David Carr from The GOO [Going Out-Out] magazine in Dublin was at the gig. He recommended us to Richard from Blowtorch, and I ended up contacting him after David had said that to us, and he was well up for it, straight away, saying that he was thinking about messaging us and trying to organise something. I think we were all really eager to get stuff out. And we’d seen everything that Blowtorch had done with bands we love, like NERVES and Search Results… [he has] an appreciation for our music, and wanted to work with us too.”

Pebbledash’s new extended-player ‘Four Portraits of the Same Ugly House’ releases digitally on Friday, January 31, as well as on CD via Blowtorch Records.

The 12” vinyl edition, including a pair of bonus tracks, ships in early March — pre-orders are available at blowtorchrecords.com.