Seamus Fogerty

God Damn You Mountain

(Fence)

The latest signing to Fife's mighty Fence Records doesn't so much write songs as create soundscapes with melodies attached. A native of County Mayo, Seamus Fogerty clearly has a different conception of what music can be; how it can be built up from small individual elements into potently atmospheric pieces of art. So, while the 10 tracks here don't always develop or transform within their own timeframe, it's the accumulation of details – constructed from Fogerty's plaintive voice, picked and strummed guitar, a touch of banjo, plus voice samples and other found sounds – that gives them their quiet impact. It makes sense that he now shares a label with King Creosote, whose Diamond Mine collaboration with Jon Hopkins also expanded songs into soundscapes, although Fogerty's approach is much more experimental, as he takes alt-folk into an abstract realm.

Alan Morrison