Liam Dullaghan: Making History

Written By Chris Singleton
Liam Dullaghan, Making History: released April 3rd on Signal/Noise

“He does sadness so well, I think he might actually be enjoying it. I am." - Alan Moore  

Praise for The Havenots: 

“Its rosy harmonies sound cured in Benedict Canyon circa 1970… yet it still manages to be unnervingly raw” – Uncut 

“Their music is blissfully laid back… highlights are plentiful” – Music OMH 

The road leading to the release of Liam Dullaghan’s solo record, Making History, has been peppered with conflicting emotions.

Having released what was hailed as a minor classic with Cooking Vinyl’s The Havenots (sophomore album Never Say Goodnight) an ill-fated trip to Chicago to record the follow up ultimately left Dullaghan homeless. Returning to the UK, he sold all of his guitars, moved into his parents’ garage and didn’t pen a song for years. Work was fixing radios at a local hospital. 

After a retreat to the home-counties it took a chance encounter with producer / multi-instrumentalist Lee Russell to re-awaken Dullaghan's creative urges. Recorded over 3 years in an old Wesleyan chapel, Making History builds on the promise hinted at in his earlier work whilst broadening his sonic palette. Amid the buzzing mellotrons of the album's opener Radio Verona comes a warning for star crossed lovers ("hey Romeo, don't say i never told you so"). Lead single “I’m Just Fucked Without You” kicks up a country-rock-dust-storm while “Choirs Of Angels” is a shuffling whisper of a pop song about falling in love with a girl from Desborough.

"I'd always had this sort of manic desire to make the "perfect" album. In part that’s what broke up The Havenots. After that fell apart I found myself back right where I started, stuck in the same town listening to the same records as when I was a kid: Weezer’s Blue Album, Wilco’s Summerteeth, Elliot Smith's XO, Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers, The Replacements' Let It Be. That’s the list I’ve always dreamed of joining. When I met Lee I couldn't believe my luck. Finally I'd met someone as stupid as me - someone who was happy to throw 3 years of their life away trying to join that list”.

Like Jens Lekman and Sam Amidon, Dullaghan has become a master at expressing the internal, becoming the voice of the introverted. These are songs for wandering lost at night, lighting a cigarette to and sighing, arguing with the ghost of a Jim Beam bottle and thinking about the one who got away. Liam Dullaghan does sadness so well, he might actually be enjoying it.  

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Chris Singleton
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