“Why do Byrds (sic) suddenly appear every time you are near?” And a bit of The Band and oh some of Neil Young’s swag. Yes, originality isn’t really the Dublin collective’s strong suit. In fact, a strong suit is one thing their singer has always seemed most in need of. Jacket and jeans will never do. The Thrills do have ‘ooohs’ though, a rich bounty of them and there really haven’t been enough ‘ooohs’ in the naughty noughties. Ireland’s finest country rockers know the poignant value of an ‘oooh’, a ‘hey’ and an ‘aaah’ in its proper place.
That such venue is the Academy and whilst “Let’s Bottle Bohemia” may not have been heaved to the collective bosom with quite such vigour as “So Much For The City”, stood astride the footlights of Brixton, Conor Deasy and his cohorts are, well, thrilling. Guitars kerrang, drums thwack and pianos...well they tinkle, but all with little of the treacle that sometimes subsumes them on record. So why is "Bohemia…" a bit of a bore and Brixton such a blast (LAUNCH didn’t check our watch even the once)? They really should just call Steve Albini in right now for the third record. The Thrills need a jackboot up the backside and double espressos in the studio next time round.
Even if their latest scribbles are a little lacklustre, the melodies of “Big Sur” and “One Horse Town” are still as postman whistling-ly catchy as ever. But there’s still something slightly irking when the crowd are caroused with odes to a promised land like “Your Love Is Like Vegas” - presumably cheap, nasty and uncomfortably sweaty. Surely they should have a few limericks to Limerick tucked up their sleeve by now. Genuflections about lost love and faded summers are all well and good, but even the Beach Boys got sick of surfing safaris.
To paraphrase Bobby Zimmerman, “they were so much older then, they’re younger than that now”. The sophomore slump, second album syndrome, call it what you will, seems to have fired up their bellies. Wraparound shades and pianos in sandpits are just a rider away and that’s just how it should be. Still not sure what happened to that Corey Haim fella though.
