DEBUT EP "HERE'S A PIECE OF IVAN'S HEAD" TO BE RELEASED '09
Fredrick and The Golden Dawn's music played on Kaleidoscope RTE Radio 1 hosted by Julie Feeney - 9pm Fridays. You can listen on line here:
Inquiries Contact: [email protected]
FIRST REVIEW OF DEBUT EP!! by Robert Doyle of Babylon Radio " Strange Sounds"
Like the aristo-mystical sect that gave them the latter half of their name, Dublin city's Fredrick and the Golden Dawn were forged in a crucible of deeply felt lack, of hunger unfed. A century or so ago, from the ghettos and umbra of the towering, self-assured, but false utopia of mechanistic materialism, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn launched an insurrection in the name of the human spirit, through their quest to discover the the numinous, the hidden, the awe-inspiring and the unspeakable, behind the veil of supposed certainties that the age smugly accepted as Final Truth. And now, at the beginning of the third millennium, on a smaller scale though driven by no less keen a yearning, a garage noir band named Fredrick and the Golden Dawn wage their own jihad of the spirit, against the orthodoxy of banality and slapdash inconsequentiality that is the creative milieux in which they find themselves.
Fredrick and the Golden Dawn don't fit in. Not in Dublin and not in Ireland. For years, local music has been constrained, in both style and substance, by provincialism, a too-cool-for-art-school name-checking cosiness, and, above all, by servility before a despotism of tiresomely 'tasteful' restraint. Not so Fredrick and the Golden Dawn. In style and substance, this band is a seething cauldronful of the literary, the theatrical, and the gothically flamboyant, seasoned with a smattering of infernal burlesque. Summoning the muses of Waits, Cave, Cohen and Brecht, the Golden Dawn mystify and bewitch with ballads of doomed love, wailed out into endless indifferent night by whiskey-lashed wretches, whilst making erratic yet potent essays into the jag and pummel of elaborate math-rock. Meanwhile, singer Kevin Nolan flits mercurially between numerous alter-ego roles; the soft-toned harmoniser, looking out dispassionately over the detritus of broken love and blue murder in 'Splinter'; the boozy wound nurser of 'Blood Wedding', howling from the dregs of the heart, then menacingly exhorting his betrayer to 'sleep with one eye open'; and the bright-eyed romantic of the wonderful 'The Guess', who mutates mid-song into a hoarse and raging prophet, growling his enigmatic truths across a pitiless earth: 'Dark is the counsel of man, for man is master of the Guess'.
Fredrick and the Golden Dawn will compel, confound, startle, stir, and possibly even infuriate. In a musical desert of ambitionless post-rock tedium, politely futile muso noodlings, and an all-round ambiance of trendy drabness and pedestrianism, there's not much more that could be hoped for than that.
- Robert Doyle of Babylon Radio " Strange Sounds"
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Love, Religion, Madness, Transgression, Innocence and Death. These are some themes dealt with in the supremely crafted songs of Fredrick and The Golden Dawn.. A six piece from Ireland, the band are known for their explosive live shows and also their use of strange instruments such as vacuum cleaners, electric razors and kettles. There influences include Captain Beefheart, Bertolt Brecht, Scott Walker, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Marlene Dietrich. They are to release their debut EP produced by Philip Begley in early 2009. Their music can be heard at www.myspace.com/fredrickandthegoldendawn
- www.yareah.com Yareah Magazine
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""Caveat Emptor", mainly the title phrase repeated over and over has excellent a capella harmonies that would do Brian Wilson proud."
- Jackie Hayden of Hot Press
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""Why do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near?" Though finding you has been quite a task, we are glad we did. Enjoying the retro vibe... and the sinister circus. The classic film "Freaks" comes to mind, which is one of my all time favorites. The Golden Dawn cannot really be tied down to one particular sound...as all the cool elements of many can be heard courageously blended throughout the gypsy journey that this band takes."
- Gaslight District's Scene, Internet Radio
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"The Waves" - What a laid back dream of sober sounds that you know has been drinking but the timing is too damn good to admit it. I absolutely adore this track... it makes me want to go soak up some shade rays. This instrumental piece is singing sparsely while richly full in texture and feel. Emotive and resonating in the most delicious way... calming without making me panic that the cult is soon behind... I feel at ease but not enough to be bored... capturing a certain color scheme surrounding the whole tones that lend itself well to an iced gin and tonic on a glorious summer day. Man I do go on... sorry... love it... it's a platypus baby for sure
- Gaslight District's Scene, Internet Radio
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