Months shy of their tenth anniversary of being together as a band Mojo Fury once more come dancing across the Irish Sea. This time they are armed with a dozen songs road-tested and refined for some nine months in a converted farmhouse located just outside of Lisburn, their very own Millbank Studios. Collectively these songs are The Difference Between.
As its title suggests there is a marked contrast between their second album and its predecessor, 2011’s Visiting Hours of a Travelling Circus. For one, this record is self-produced and whilst Mojo Fury have not completely turned their back on the dirtier raw power of their nascence, to this basic template they have added a much broader texture and versatility.
Where once there may only have been guitar, now there are also electronics. The album sets sail on its fresh course with the swirling sub-psychedelia of ‘Safe In The Arms’ and the wind firmly behind its back. The emerging influence of Gary Numan can then be heard on ‘Origami Bird’ as guitars and synthesisers coalesce to clear and great effect. ‘All In Awe’ is much poppier in feel and could easily have been a cutting left on the Abbey Road studio floor. And whilst elements of the title track wouldn’t have been entirely out of place on Led Zeppelin’s second album, the much dreamier ‘Iris Influential’ is a perfect illustration of the presence of a much lighter hand now at the Mojo Fury tiller.
The middle market of contemporary music, the one that lies loosely between the parameters of grunge, post-hardcore and more conventional rock is a crowded one. In many regards this is the pool in which Mojo Fury are fishing. But with The Difference Between they have added a more divergent quality and greater depth to their fundamental sound and with this you feel they may eventually end up landing a much bigger catch.
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‘The Difference Between’ was released through Graphite Records/Pledge Music on 21st October
