As a reviewer, it is our tendency, some would say our job, to find the influences and inspirations that seem to run through a song and highlight those thoughts and opinions to the eager reader. And while you could find a number of artists who ride the pop-rock divide as a way to discuss the sound that Fitzsimon and Brogan make on their latest single, “Flowers at Her Door,” for me, there is a remarkable echo of a very niche artist that serves as the best reference point.
There is something wonderful about the blend of raw guitars and, okay, slightly underground accessibility that defines the song, something also about the imagery and the overall vibe that reminds me it has been too long since I played my old Nikki Sudden records. (And therefore bands like The Jacobites too.) And if that reference point gets a bit lost as it crosses the Atlantic, think of the more accessible, less raucous end, later era of Johnny Thunders.
Not only does Neil Fitzsimon lay down some cool shards of guitar and jagged edge six-string riffs, but Bee Brogan has one of those voices that was just built for this sort of sound, one where the cultist and the commercial meet and merge and make great music.
And the result is one of those songs that embodies the power of power-pop, the rock of rock and roll, and puts the duo prominently on the radar of every discerning music fan worth their salt…especially those who have still held on to their old Dogs D’Amour albums for all these years.
Top stuff.
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This Wicked Pantomime album
This Wicked Pantomime on CD
