Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club - 'Be Yourself' (Ruby Works)
4/5
By: Kevin Molloy
Gerard Whelan (or Ger) was last seen a long time ago. Nearly ten years in fact, as the hyperactive frontman to An Emotional Fish, then Ireland's biggest rock group behind U2. It was, in fact, partly due to incessant comparisons to said stalwarts of MOR that An Emotional Fish went fins-up. In any case, Ger found being on the brink of success only to have it washed away a little too traumatic, and the ten years he's spent recuperating have moved his sound far, far away from Mr Bono Vox.
His first solo LP is a densely packaged, jazzy affair. Ger's vocal is closer to your ears than your nose, warm and enveloping without being sleepy, with a slightly husky tinge; the vocal equivalent of a sociable whiskey with friends, reminiscing over past days. This does indeed seem to be one of the lyrical themes of the album, especially in such songs as 'True Friends' and 'My Friend Jim'. This obvious personal element is never, as it can be in others, annoyingly irrelevant, but instead seems to draw you even closer. 'Be Yourself' continues such a theme, exuding the notion that it's been recorded in a small musical circle for personal distribution, simply happening to find the public by accident.
As such, each song is more like a conversation with the audience than a passive listening experience. None of Ger's observations on life are startling, or even original (take 'some things change/Some things, they stay the same'), but each and every one is closely relevant, if only because they seem to be murmured into your ear by an old friend.
The musical backdrop, favourably, is of wandering double bass, rambling bluesy pianos, jazz snare and sticks and strumming acoustic guitars, with whatever else comes to hand it would seem (the Mudbug Club in its entirety consists of 15 fully paid-up members, not including guest vocalists). Ger himself says of the album: '...it's a party, I intentionally recorded it that way because I don't think any amount of technology can create a really good performance, y'know?'
An impressive party it is, though. With Damien Rice signing up for a few out-of-character lines on good time title-track 'Be Yourself', and a Meteor Irish Music Award up his sleeve Ger seems set to take over the world in what he calls 'a revolution in Ireland', as artists realise they can create their own record labels and releases, bypassing the industry (as both Rice and Whelan did originally with their debuts).
So whilst Ger's new persona, Jerry Fish, isn't innovative in any musical manner, his message is refreshingly simple: 'Be yourself' before 'you're six feet underground'. Letting yourself be taken away on this album's heart-warming currents is a rewardingly melodic way to spend an hour. And as they say themselves: there's 'nothing more we can do or say - it don't get much better than this.'
Artists in this article: Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club
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