The fact that this week marked another anniversary of Rory Gallagher leaving us set me thinking about the greats of Irish music. All those wonderful musicians from the north and south of the island of Ireland. The ones who seemed to understand, instinctively, that soul is not something you add afterwards. It either runs through the thing or it does not.
Paul J Bolger belongs somewhere in that lineage. Way back in the first lockdown, in June 2020, I reviewed an album of his that was utterly sensational. Pilllarstone are his latest venture, and “Mono Lit” suggests the well is nowhere near dry.
Led by Bolger and Alex Soikans, Pilllarstone weave together Celtic folk, rock, blues, Americana and indie. That blend is not always easy to make sound natural, but that is what happens here.
“Run Fox Run” opens things with sublime guitar work and melodies to lose yourself in. That, more than anything, is what Pilllarstone give you: songs that feel carefully made without ever sounding sterile. There is craft everywhere, but there is heart in it too.
“September Sun” takes things somewhere more lugubrious, not least because of the fiddles, while the appearance of Siobhan Maher Kennedy adds Nashville soul to the mix. Given her connections with Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and River City People, that makes perfect sense. She is part of a stellar cast here too, with Killian Browne on piano and keyboards, Fergal Kavanagh on violin, Aileen Mythen of The Remedy Club on backing vocals and Waterford’s Harmania Indie Choir all helping to colour the edges.
“What In This World” poses the sort of question that immediately lodges itself in your head: what if your god was just a bad guy, what if Lucifer was on our side? But once again, as much as the words pull you in, the guitar work is perfect. There is a patience to it, a sense that the song knows exactly where it is going.
“Fog Of War” has a Levellers/Ferocious Dog vibe, and it is working class to its core. “The rich send the poor out to die” is not a new thought, but it is one that never stops being true. In a week where obscene wealth and obscene inequality seem to be staring at each other across the room, you do wonder where the fairness is.
The piano on “Wise Up” elevates it beautifully. Americana bands everywhere would be kicking the doors in to get hold of something like this, and all you can really do is marvel at a record with this much ability. “Cry” then comes in with all the energy of its drums and the primal urges of rock’n’roll. The Jim Jones Revue would have been proud of this one.
What that band could not do, though, is find the light and shade of “Like A Fool”. Gorgeous balladry, it also has a spoken-word passage with a little bit of Vegas Elvis about it, and that should sound ridiculous. It does not. Instead, it gives the song another layer.
“Hammer That Nail” has a genuinely tough edge, while “All I Want” underlines the level of songwriting here. You only have to hear it once to love it, and that is not an exaggeration. Some songs work their way in by force. This one just walks through the door like it owns the place.
The only track here that stretches past five minutes is the closer, “Call For Mercy”, and it feels like a case study in why the whole record works. It gives itself room, but it never drifts. It reaches for something bigger without losing the human touch that has been there all along.
You might think it is hard to do anything new with Americana and Celtic sounds. After all, The Transatlantic Sessions have got that down, haven’t they?
Wrong.
“Mono Lit” is fresh, brilliant and full of life. Pilllarstone have made a record that understands tradition without being trapped by it, and one that sounds timeless without feeling old.
Rating 9/10
