Jonny Rep - Cold Sunbeam album review: Forget the footie

JONNY REPCold Sunbeam ***Wangley Dan Records

Cold Sunbeam
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Artist: Jonny Rep
Genre: Alternative
Label: Wangley Dan Records

Naming your group after a famous footballer (in this instance, retired Dutch right winger Johnny Rep – no, me neither) will only get so many music loving, clued-in footie fans on your side.

Yet this band, forged out of some very fine Cork outfits such as Rulers of the Planet, The Shanks and LMNO Pelican, step beyond niche by delivering an album that ably balances personal life experiences with influences such as Stone Roses, Therapy?, Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer. Of an age in which real life has kicked them in the teeth, songs such as Front Runner, Waiting Room, Bad Afternoon and Call Me Soon are indicative of a band mindset that has little problem looking distress in the face while simultaneously telling it to take a hike.

In other words, our kind of people.

Tony Clayton-Lea

Tony Clayton-Lea

Tony Clayton-Lea is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in popular culture