SEAN O'BRIEN is the very epitome of the seasoned campaigner. His 30-year CV includes stints with bands such as Meantime (who would later mutate into Paisley Underground contenders True West), Denim TV and The Mariettas. This latter also featuring ex-Leaving Trains and Baby Lemonade/ Arthur Lee & Love personnel.
So it's undeniable the Californian-based O'Brien has been around the block a few times, but his experiences have rubbed off favourably in artistic terms. His current buncha honchos, His Dirty Hands – bassist Bill Davis, drummer Matt Shelley and fellow guitarist Jeff Kane – do a consistently good job in bringing his tough'n'tender, garage-tinged power pop to fruition and while 'Goodbye Game' would certainly sit easily on a shelf with the likes of Steve Wynn and Paul Westerberg, O'Brien has a distinctive delivery of his own and a desire to experiment which provides some unexpected successes along the way.
The opening brace of tunes, including the anti-depressant, self-help pop of 'Take Your Pills' and 'Warm & Sane' give you some idea of the ballpark we're in here. The former has tinges of 'Pleased To Meet Me'-era Replacements, while the zig-zagging guitars of 'Warm & Sane' brings Steve Wynn's 'Melting In The Dark' favourably to mind. The sound on songs like these and the barely-suppressed angst in 'Bones Snap' (“split me open...pull out my black intentions”) is finished and well-rounded, but never too polished, and there's plenty of room for windmilling power chords to detonate.
Add songs like the cranked'n'fractious 'Walk There Too' and the sharp, Television-influenced 'Home To Penelope' to the stew and you've got a respectably nourishing power-pop dish to savour, yet Sean & His Dirty Hands are equally keen to lob in some less-easily recognisable spices to the pot too.
The first of these comes courtesy of 'Aftermath Fears'. Opening with a snatch of what sounds like a Middle Eastern radio broadcast, it initially sounds like a clunking, Bad Seeds-style sea shanty, but gradually weaves a glorious web of widescreen drama all its' own. It's only the first head-checking moment, too, for 'Goodbye Game' also finds room for country-flecked beauties like 'All That I Don't Know' and the Brinsley Schwarz-ish 'New Home Tonight',where the superficial jauntiness and killer, Albert Lee-meets-Billy Bremner guitar solo only barely mask the sadness felt by a man looking to answer his relationship problems online.
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The one place they arguably bite off more than they can chew is the bizarre 'Get Over Tunis', which seems to think an ill-advised blunder down Jamaica's Maxfield Avenue to the dub heart of Studio One is a good idea. It's oddly endearing, but stands out the proverbial sore thumb here. Thankfully, the no-nonsense 'Home To Penelope' steams through in its' wake and the final strait is populated by the sinister, psychedelic-tinted 'Bad Faith' and the showstopping title track, which is as anthemic as they come and throws in a little 'White Album'-era Beatles and Costello-style bile for good measure.
Honest, intelligent and unafraid to get a little egg on its' face, this is a decent album with enough mystery and allure to tempt the discerning. Sean O'Brien could very easily be categorised as a veteran, but there's plenty of life in him yet and, as such, 'Goodbye Game' is merely a fond adieu until the next quality-stuffed instalment.
(http://www.myspace.com/seanobrienandhisdirtyhands)
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