Sitting somewhere between the spaciousness of a dreamtime folk sound and the more robust electric guitar threads of the indie-rock spectrum, “Pùca” is an interesting sonic beast. There is a delicacy to the way those guitar lines are arranged, which is surprising considering their resonance and weight, and there is certainly a deftness to the amount of space left to be coloured in.
And as the song travels the three and a half minutes to its destination, a colouring-in of the song is exactly what happens: additional tones and textures, layers and lines are, often imperceptibly, sometimes more obviously, added to the increasingly billowing soundscape.
Although by the time the song is heading towards the finishing line, it is a much bigger affair than when we first encountered it, and yet Amy Ellen’s gossamer, slightly distant, otherworldly vocals remain audible… more than that… accessible, artistic, authentic… astonishing!
The sense of nostalgia and memory is palpable, the song a reflection on childhood experiences, feels like the music made by a pebble dropped in the still pool of time, its ripples a message riding across the surface of life waters towards us in the here and now.
This may be Seán Julian’s debut single, but it is clear that he has served his time in the music-making and performance community; Pùcais a thing of understatement and growing anticipation, of remembrance and reflection, a reminder that often, our earliest experiences only make sense to us once we can contemplate them from the distance of adulthood.
What a brilliant calling card!
