Follow the Leaders

2023 was already a big year for Cavan music, and with The Spiritual Leaders’ release of ‘This Fictional Place’, it’s just got that little bit bigger.

The Spiritual Leaders emerged from the Cavan music scene over a decade ago as an indie-pop band with an ear for a stylish guitar hook. They developed that sound with their unexpected return to the studio on 2020’s ‘Albania Away’.

Here the Leaders - AKA Fergus and Cathal Brady, and Dave Reilly - haven’t quite reinvented themselves, but they’ve seemingly swallowed a synth pill that has brought a whole new dimension to their a sound.

They had already sign-posted their newly embraced electronica influences with last November’s single ‘Shadows and Tall Trees’. By programming that song, which had originally been written for guitars, onto digital synthesisers the trio suddenly had their ears opened to new musical possibilities.

The opening track of This Fictional Place sees the trio double down on this synth vibe with the magnificent lo-fi ‘London Waiting’. For this reviewer this is the album’s intoxicating high point. It mightn’t be to everyone’s taste, but the interplay between the pulsating electronic backdrop, rapid fire drumming, and the spoken vocals is magic.

They shift gear to a more conventional indie number in ‘Past Present Future’. More conventional should not be read as inferior however. Here the intricate guitar playing is exquisite while the synths enhance the track's atmospherics reminiscent of New Order, and Dave's vocals shine. It’s the Leaders at their finest and could explain why 2FM and ‘BBC Introducing’ have both given it deserved airplay.

‘Hall of Mirrors’ is more familiar terrain for the Leaders, with a joyous bassline, upbeat chorus to sing along to. You could have been picked from their earlier albums and you wouldn’t have noticed, although it’s elevated with the layered keyboards.

Leave the two minute opener aside and ‘This Fictional Place’ is heavily frontloaded with a run of four singles completed by ‘The Last Sunset’. It means the second half lacks a little of the punch of the first half, but this is a small matter.

The exception is the wondrous shoe-gaze pop of ‘Yellow Moon Rising’ where Belle and Sebastian sounds like a key influence.

“We're very proud of this one,” the band posted on social media in announcing the album's arrival. And so they should be. It has already attracted hugely positive reviews, and hopefully that generates more airplay.

Dylan sang: ‘He not busy being born is busy dying’. The Spiritual Leaders have been born again!