David Long and Shane O’Neill: And You Can’t Dream That – Indie stalwarts still have fire in their bellies

Their artist bio is short and to the point: “David Long was part of Into Paradise. Shane O’Neill was part of Blue in Heaven.” Those names might mean little to millennials, but to a certain cohort of Irish music fans this duo are stalwarts of the indie-rock scene of the 1980s.

This is Long and O’Neill’s third collaboration, following Moll & Zeis, from 2021, and Age of Finding Stars, from last year; they also played together in the band Supernaut in the late 1990s. Their chemistry has remained intact across the decades; this is another fine collection of indie songs, although it does feel as if the pair operate to a template at times.

Their reliance on subtle electronics, tautly jittery drums and squally guitars brings New Order to mind on Memory, the title track, and on the surging, strident shimmer of Sound of Life. Their lyrics, meanwhile, are heartfelt but on the nose, whether it’s lamenting the passage of time changing Dublin, on The Last Night (“The cranes came along and ripped out our city’s heart / And made it just like any other town”), or relationships, on Taxi and the wistful It Comes and Goes.

Proceedings take a more interesting turn towards the album’s conclusion: the instrumental Transport is an enjoyably experimental affair, while the spacey, scratchy Tarantino Calls is a woozy, intriguing closer. In any case, it suggests that Long and O’Neill still have fire in their bellies.