One Day International: Blackbird

Jul 28 2009 by Andrew Welsh, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

COMPLEX yet appealing arrangements prevail on the debut offering from predominantly Irish outfit One Day International (right).

Something of a musical hybrid, the five-piece are made up of a group of individuals who have all been paying their songcraft dues for many years.

Led by Tasmanian escapee Matt Lunson on vocals, ODI have a restrained and even inhibited style, with their beautiful and simple songs revealing themselves through a gradual process.

Blackbird is an album of impressions, colours and emotions expressed through a gorgeously layered sound, if perhaps lacking any real attention-grabbing choruses that could help to propel the band to the next level.

Featuring Eimear O’Grady full-time on cello, ODI began writing and performing together just two years ago.

Clearly the lyrical side of performance matters as much to the line-up as the music, evidenced on tracks such as Sleeping On Trains, Black Is The Bird and Big Surprise, where each phrase demands attention from poetic types.

Producer Brian Crosby has clearly earned his corn, fusing bowed cymbals, glockenspiels, omnichord, double bass and synths with the staple piano, bass and drums.

It’s all very clever indeed, but is it enough to leave fans of the already crowded market in pastoral pop asking for more?

To use cricketing parlance, of which this band are clearly fond, it’ll require a follow on to decide this test match.