Double A-side single ‘Beast Be With You/Glasgow Overture’ by Kevin P. Gilday and the Sea Kings – review Stephen Watt

Double A-side single ‘Beast Be With You/Glasgow Overture’ greets the antagonistic vocals of Kevin P. Gilday and the menacing cool of The Sea Kings.
In Beast Be With You, Gilday’s account of a relative murdered in a fist-fight is akin to a Gallowgate-nod in the direction of Death In Vegas (feat Iggy Pop) “Ayesha”, with pointed guitars wailing like bystanders watching the violence unwrap before them. The hectoring bass beneath Gilday’s words are measured with intemperate drums, resulting in an intimidating, half-sung lesson about Glasgow’s thorny, misogynistic and cut-throat past.
In contrast, Glasgow Overture’s lighter, jangly guitars bring an upbeat energy to proceedings. However, this is only a veil cast over Gilday’s cynical opinions concerning social depravation in the west of Scotland. Razor-sharp lyrics flood each line – “Drumchapel and Bearsden sit side by side / poster boys for modern inequality”, “John Knox looks down his nose at the dead”, “Pubs full of population, an intravenous injection of humanity”. These are sagacious and contemporary observations, backed by The Sea Kings benevolent vibrations, which work closely together without over-egging one another’s space.
As far as collaborations go, Kevin Gilday and The Sea Kings appear to be singing from the same hymn sheet – or at least from the same baccy-smattered beer mat whose user stands smoking at the pub’s front door, breathing Glasgow in.
Iffy Folk Records
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Kevin Gilday Facebook
Th Sea Kings Music Facebook
Stephen Watt, April, 2016
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