:) crumb - reviews

Gig Reviews

The Hub, 17th September 2004

Crumb are what melody-driven pop can be, if it paid more attention to riffs instead of the threads. The melodies
are sharp, the drums crack and the guitars jangle. Full review here

Album Reviews - evenings & weekends

The Star on Sunday May 2005
'Jangly guitar pop of the highest quality is the order of the day...This is the best record you'll
hear this summer. We love it'
Full article here

		Hotpress, April 2005

Is there any other touchstones in rock that can sound so timeless, nostalgic, and yet so bang up to date
as that classic jangly, melodic,12-string guitar-driven pop sound? It's certainly weaved magic for
The Byrds, Big Star, REM, The La's and Teenage Fanclub. Dublin three-piece Crumb are the
latest outfit to fall under the spell of the Rickenbacker rooted, harmony-laden West Coast template.
That they do it so skilfully and at times so majestically is as much a testament to their combined
talents as to their record collection. Featuring former members of Mexican Pets, Hey Paulette and
The Sewing Room, Crumb have the songs and melodic instincts in spades, and go on to prove
it on trackslike 'Follow Me Home', 'Bad Timing' and the oddly titled but soaring, irresistible
Byrds-like 'Fecky the Ninth'. 'Marwood' is more 80's indie power-pop, while 'Lights Of The City',
my personal favourite recalls Murmur-era REM, though as with almost everything here it's more
inspiration than emulation that rules the day. The lyrics are mainly of the lovelorn variety: "I should
get over this I know" is the refrain on the penultimate track 'My Back Yard' and they bring the
pace down a tad on the acoustic closer, 'No Great Plans'. If the recording budget squeaks a little,
it's more than made up for by the sheer embarrassment of riches on offer- there isn't a weak track
here, and clocking in at just 34 minutes in total, proves that less is more.

EIGHT/TEN - Colm O'Hare


RTE.ie Entertainment 5th May 2005
	In a music scene deluged by showy, slick guitar bands, there is something admirably honest and pure about Crumb and their well crafted songs. Instantly likeable yet offering more on each listen. Full Review Here

U Magazine May 2005
Their sound is definitely their own. Lights of the City is supremely hummable and Follow Me Home is an
infectiously catchy foot-tapper... We'll be spending our evenings and weekends listening to this.

Sunday Business Post - May 2005
A decade ago, ex-Stars of Heaven guitarist Stan Erraught put together a new band, The Sewing Room,
which soon gave the world And Nico, a languidly graceful record and easily one of the best albums of
the 1990s. The group then released one more, weaker, album before splitting. Two of its members,
Eamonn Davis and Dez Foley, are here joined by former Mexican Pets man Derrick Dalton.
While Evenings & Weekends is no And Nico, it does have its moments; plenty of them, in fact.
Recorded in a single week, its conciseness is emphasised by its short duration (34 minutes) and its
ringing, punchy production job. A couple of tracks, such as the Nirvana-esque Follow Me
Home, are heavier and more raucous than the majority of the album, a melodic affair which takes
most of its cues from Reckoning era-REM. Pick of the bunch is probably the delicate,
blurry Bad Timing, an appealing rewrite of My Bloody Valentine's Sometimes.

THREE/FIVE - Jonathan O'Brien


Sunday Tribune, April 2005

Crumb are that rare thing in an era of self-conscious art rock and retro's 80's guitar acts - an indie pop band. This album is full of bittersweet, jangly guitar pop and boasts vocal harmonies on a par with Teenage Fanclub and melodies with tinges of New Order, The Beautiful South, and The Go-Betweens, while the 12 string Rickenbacker guitar calls to mind REM. 'Lights of the City' and 'Fecky the Ninth' set the pace, while 'Follow Me Home' and 'For The Leaving Of ...' are stand-out tracks that just won't get out of your head. FOUR/FIVE - Edel Coffey


The Ticket, The Irish Times, April 2005

As the post-punk black hole shows no sign of collapsing in on itself, a new hope glints on the guitar band horizon. Crumb (comprised of ex-members of Dublin bands Mexican Pets, The Sewing Room and Hey Paulette) fit their own musical stencil around some of the best bygone bands of the last two decades. Thanks to the gorgeous jangly twang of Derrick Dalton's Rickenbacker, The Go-Betweens, The Blue Aeroplanes and a touch of early REM (when they were good) segue in. American bands such as The Feelies and The Replacements, exponents of melodic guitars and small town lyricism, are obvious references. Lights of the City is supremely hummable, while Wrecked Or is the soundtrack to latenight melancholy. With this guitar pop tour de force, Crumb may have just started the post Rickenbacker revival. THREE/FIVE - Sinead Gleeson

Single Review - Follow Me Home

Hotpress - 2nd June 2005 This debut single from Dublin three-piece Crumb is a nicely zippy, hearty song that should set them apart from Ireland's wave of indie contenders. While the bands around them lose their heads attempting to be big and clever, this band of merry men get down to the semi-serious business of writing pop rock gems. Written in the break neck tradition of early Dinosaur Jr 'Follow Me Home' is nicely affable and playful, and confirms Crumb as a band to keep an eye on. Tanya Sweeney

Interviews - Click here