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Irish songs for pubbing.

For seven years, Amadan has cut its teeth in the clubs, bars, stages, and highways of the Pacific Northwest. Seeking to break the molds of traditional music, punk rock, and live performance with their raucous and fast-paced three-hour rock shows and searing musicianship, the six-man band from Portland emerged from the recording of their third full-length album with a sound that is post-celtic, post-world and post-punk.  Amadan is a well-rounded group with guitars, lead and backup vocals, fiddle, didgeridoo (an Australian natural wood trumpet), bass and drums.

The first song on Pacifica’s 12-track album is “The Old North End.”  It is based on the legend that the Old North End was the shipping district containing China Town, Oregon’s Pearl District and Skidmore Fountain.  Tunnels ran beneath the streets connecting inns to boardinghouses to the docks where white slavery was an everyday happening.  The song tells the story of this district and is paced like an Irish gig, something that seems to go over well with the audiences where the men perform.

“Used To Know” is about a man whose decisions are made for him; he couldn’t make them himself The album jacket says simply, “A song about a guy I used to know, and the deCisions that were often made for him, for some reason or another.”  This song has an upbeat tempo although the song mentions that the guy shot himself in the foot and spends lots of time pouring whiskey in the “hole in his face.”  It sounds funny until to hear the words and the pathos that exists about the man.  “Coming Home” is an Irish ditty that again describes what happens to the man who goes to war and never comes home to an “angry America.”  Regardless of the rhythm of these two songs, it’s the words that get to you.

“Pishi,” which is Persian for “kitty,” starts as an instrumental with an Irish ditty sound.  At first slow and melancholy, it picks up as the song moves along and vocals are added.

Although this album will tend to be a favorite and sell well in the Pacific Northwest, I don’t think it will reach national fame unless radio stations pick up the songs and give the album lots of airplay.  Even so, the album is still an enjoyable journey into Irish-flavored music and perfect for lovers of the genre. I doubt the music will be played on traditional radio stations; it will most likely be played on stations that have an Irish or Celtic hour, or in Irish-themed pubs across the country.

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