Album review: Prince Edward Island – This Day Is A Good Enough Day
It would be wrong to suggest that all miserablist song writers hail from North of the border, but it has to be said that miserable songs is something that the Scots do exceptionally well and Prince Edward Island aren’t doing anything to change that. Sounding like a more upbeat Arab Strap the album’s title sums the mood up perfectly: it’s not a great day, it’s a ‘good enough day’. Not suicidal but not exactly full of the joys of spring, Prince Edward Island’s debut album has a poppy veneer, but underneath the jangly guitars, synths and stylophones (oh yes) lies some of the darkest, wittiest songs I’ve heard in a long time. The band specialises in dry, sharp lyrics; we don’t need to talk it over/you’re not my fucking social worker – sings Darren Bruce in ‘Like Bouncers We Stand’. The real feat of the lyrics though is their ability to paint incredibly vivid pictures, when Darren, in melancholy voice, sings ‘lifetime achievement award/a lump in my lung and a bed near the door/bones you can reach through my skin/and two yellow fingers that cling to a gin’ in ‘The Keith Disaster Fund’ you can picture not only the emaciated character but his drab, damp environment too. On top of all that the vocals are in a strong Scots accent, and I love it when people sing in regional accents! 8/10
Mark Cousens
Out now on Crocfingers
