Northern Irish folklore tales mutter darkly of a creature called the Corrigan, a ghoulish thing with a big head and wild, staring eyes that dances crazily in the moonlight.
This phantastic tale is not lost on CORRIGAN vocalist, Martin.J.Corrigan, it would seem, if the three sanity-taunting, but rather cool songs struggling to break out of this second EP from the Co.Fermanagh-based band are anything to go by.
"Sometimes I think About..." itself is something of an itching, spasmic treat, all low-riding, punky basslines, quizzical guitars and strategic use of toytown Hammond organ, all topped off by Corrigan's unhinged philosophy. "Sometimes I think about the trees, but mostly I think about the existence of MEEEE!!" he shrieks, convincingly, at one point. For some strange reason, Corrigan here remind me of ace, under-rated Dublin heroes A HOUSE, with poppy melodies put under considerable stress and strain.
Second tune, "Face", meanwhile, pushes the lunatic intent right over the precipice. The whispered "Where did you get those eyes, where did you get that face?" doesn't read like a threat on paper, but believe me, it sounds like one!
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However it's the final track "It's The Architecture, Jackson" that initially won this writer over to the Corrigan cause. The kind of surreal narrative that Corrigan himself clearly excels at, it finds the band slowing down considerably and Martin cueing up a superb story of love, swimming pools and...er, town planning. Not rock'n'roll enough for you? Bollocks! This is great. "I know a girl who wears a black flower, she played havoc with the planning commission," deadpans Martin and your heart just melts. Apparently there's more about her on the band's soon-come album, so consider out appetite whetted.
CORRIGAN, then, may seem like a strange, ungainly creature, but one with a cache full of bloody fine tunes and plenty of intrigue to jettison in its' wake as it rampages in the moonlight.
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