Black Coats & Bandages

Black Coats & Bandages is the second full-length album by Irish-Australian band Clann Zú. This album has much sparser instrumentation and less electronic influence than Clann Zú's previous album, Rua, and a heavier use of the Irish language.

Black Coats & Bandages
Studio album by
Released1 June 2004
RecordedNewmarket Studios (Melbourne)
GenreArt rock
Slowcore
Length46:52
LabelG7 Welcoming Committee
Clann Zú chronology
Rua
(2003)
Black Coats & Bandages
(2004)

Black Coats & Bandages explores similar issues as Rua, but also touches on themes of imperialism, war, organized religion, and personal struggles.

Reception

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AllMusic's Stewart Mason expressed a difficulty in describing Black Coats & Bandages: "close to impossible to sum up in an easy sentence, because there are so many comparisons" and decided "[it] is undeniably flawed, and several listens will be necessary before it all begins to make some kind of sense, but as perhaps the most wide-ranging and eclectic band this side of Canada's Broken Social Scene, Clann Zu continue to impress."[1] Adam White of Punknews.org compared it to the group's debut album Rua, and found that it "is completely raw, shockingly so. It's a record of mid to slow paced ballads, sparely arranged and sparsely produced. The prevailing theme in the title track (and the band's press) is 'funeral oration'."[2] Maarten Schiethart of PennyBlackMusic noted that when "De Barra sings rather than whines, his voice shows a fine soulful style, yet when the preaching starts – Black Coats and Bandages is on G7 Welcoming Committee after all – the Clann Zú sound becomes pretty mundane".[3]

Track listing

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Music by Clann Zú; lyrics by Declan de Barra.

  1. "Black Coats & Bandages" – 1:38
  2. "There Will Be No Morning Copy" – 6:18
  3. "So Complicated Was the Fall" – 4:10
  4. "An T-Éan Bán" – 4:30
  5. "One Bedroom Apartment" – 6:35
  6. "From an Unholy Height" – 6:14
  7. "Án Deireadh Scéal" – 3:15
  8. "From Bethlehem to Jenin" – 5:35
  9. "You'll Have to Swim" – 6:07
  10. "A Sudden Intake of Breath" – 2:33

References

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  1. ^ Mason, Stewart. "Black Coats Bandages – Clann Zu". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  2. ^ White, Adam (4 June 2004). "Clann Zú – Black Coats & Bandages". punknews.org. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  3. ^ Schiethart, Maarten. "Review of Clann Zu:Black Coats & Bandages". pennyblackmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 6 November 2014.