Aoife Nessa Frances, Land of No Junction – ALBUM REVIEW #17
After a deserved highlight on Bandcamp, Irish musician Aoife Nessa Frances released the highly anticipated Land of No Junction (Ba Da Bing Records) on January 17th 2019. Cian Nugent co-produced the album, and the work released is beyond our expectations for a first!
If you liked the sense of intimacy given by Jennah Barry’s Holiday or the musicality of Jason McMahon’s Odd West (out this Friday), you’re in the right place! Thus, don’t change that channel.
Land of No Junction is a beautiful and rich tragedy. In the noble and literary sense. Here are our thoughts on this release that added a lot of magic in the beginning of this year.
Aoife Nessa Frances – Land of No Junction: our review
The album title is a result of a mishearing. Cian Nugent was telling me about childhood trips he made to Llandudno in Wales, passing through a station called Llandudno Junction… Land of No Junction later became a place in itself. (…) A place of waiting where I could sit with uncertainty and accept it. Rejecting the distinct and welcoming the uncertain and the unknown.
– Aoife Nessa Frances
Land of No Junction is an invitation
As said in the introduction, the album shows a strong sense of intimacy that would even conquer the bashful with its beauty and authenticity. With Land of No Junction, Aoife Nessa Frances proves both her creativity and her generosity. Comfort and bliss are indisputably the words, no matter the topic. Let’s start with Blow Up, a powerful remedy for those missing these Sixto Rodriguez vibes.
That being said, listening comfort should never equal numbness. No need to precise that Land of No Junction is a is a rhythmic, measured, colorful trip. One of the the most enjoyable facts is that the album doesn’t require exclusive attention from the listeners to immerse them in the beautiful flow created by the music. Here in the Dark is the most striking illustration of this flow and its rich simplicity.
Land of No Junction is beyond music
Land of No Junction is Aoife Nessa Frances’ first album, but the 9 tracks that were considered for publication have nothing of a shy trial process. Aoife’s digested and unfolded influences are not in disguise: welcome to a world breathing the music of Arthur Lee and Love (see Libra), Pink Floyd and Jefferson Airplane. Nevertheless, No signs of dust on the seventies-oriented production: modernity and sane appropriation are unequivocal.
Most importantly, the album goes beyond notes. This album speaks colors, feelings, places, memories. The textures of the instruments are at many times intertwined, always to the point of agreeable confusion. That is the sign and mark of strong composers and arrangers.
Where will you take us next, Aoife?
Written by Marc Louis-Boyard for Slow Culture.
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