Walking on Cars, a band out of Dingle, Co. Kerry, begins an American tour on May 18 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn.
By Colleen Taylor
Most new bands go to Dublin. Walking on Cars went to Dingle. Or actually, they chose to stay there. Walking on Cars, a group of Dingle natives, decided their home space was the best setting in which to record their debut album, “Everything This Way.” They holed up in an old farmhouse by the beach, turned on the Bon Iver records and the rest was the making of a new, original Irish album.
The lineage of the record’s creation speaks to the band’s pride in their native identity but also to the character of the music they make. The Kerry town, they said, seemed like the perfect creative setting to write and record their music not just because it’s their home but because there, in the breathtaking scenery, there is “no shortage of inspiration.” The same can be said for their debut album, which is quickly becoming one of Irish radio’s favorites. It has no shortage of inspiration and no shortage of fresh sound.
Ireland has been impressed with five-piece alternative rock band Walking on Cars (Patrick Sheehy, Sorcha Durham, Paul Flannery, Evan Hadnett and Dan Devane) since 2012. Their very first release, “Catch Me If You Can” reached the number one spot on the Irish charts. Now, with their name and their style established, their debut album runs loose on the radio waves. “Everything This Way” marks a culmination of a number of influences for Walking on Cars: from Bon Iver, to local Kerry traditional musicians, and all kinds of new musical innovators they heard at festivals across Ireland. Innovation seems to have been a key impulse behind the compositions on “Everything This Way.” The album invites all kinds of influences and colors into their rock ballads. Although hard rock at its core, the music highlights a number of softer tones too, like choral harmonies and acapella drums.
Once you know the band recorded “Everything This Way” on the beach in Dingle, you cannot avoid hearing the sea in their musical style. This record emulates the sounds of harsh, loud crashing waves as well as soft ocean breezes, even the high-pitched sounds of seagulls. It’s a soundscape as well as a rock album. Each track moves between hard rock and soft melody, creating sonic ebbs and flows. Although the album is not traditionally Irish, it’s Dingle through and through. It literally speaks back to the landscape of the band’s roots, grounding the seascape’s atmosphere in each and every song. In fact, this homage to native place seems intentional. Walking on Cars believe their local culture shaped who they are as a band today, an influence they embrace in their creativity.
I hear all kinds of new, fresh ideas in “Everything This Way.” “Always Be With You,” for instance, starts out with a bodhran’s beat, then transforms into a dramatic rock song, complete with modern synths and Irish choral incantations. I haven’t heard a move quite like this before, merging bodhran with modern indie rock styles, but it really works. I’m also partial to “Hand in Hand,” another emotive, dramatic song. Walking On Cars aims to, as they put it, “think outside the box” in their music. “Speeding On Cars,” one of their hit singles in Ireland stands as a tried-and-true favorite for the group. They love to rock out live to that song and revitalize its energy every time they get on stage.
Perhaps even more than the ambition to innovate new musical sounds, a desire to affect listeners motivated the composition of “Everything This Way.” As the band told me, “We want people to feel something. The world is filled with things that make us numb so as a band we feel obliged to make really honest music.” One of their collective professional goals is to meet a fan one day down the line who says the album helped through some difficulties in their life: “That will make it all worth it.” The band is well on their way to achieving that goal. For me, more than anything, what distinguishes this quintet is their vulnerability, their emotional intensity. The vehemence of their vocals leads to a physical listening experience: the intensity of emotion renders on the listener in a noticeably physical way. You literally feel this music in your body. Perhaps this is owing to the band’s own honesty when they write together. If one of the bandmembers is embarrassed by some lyrics, they joked, they know they’re doing something right.
Innovation is one important trait in an artist, but honesty is absolutely crucial for good music. Honesty, above all else, is what Walking On Cars has in spades, what they privilege. This, I think most of all will secure them a successful career in Ireland and abroad. Now, in 2016, that “abroad” part really begins. The band is traveling Stateside to tour, and they’re absolutely thrilled about sharing their debut album with American audiences for the first time. They’re also, as it turns out, simply excited to see the American cities.
On May 18, they’ll play in a fitting venue in New York City: Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. After that, it’s off to Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and L.A.
Open yourself up to the honesty of this new Irish rock band and see what you feel. More information at walkingoncars.com
