May 1, 2001

Firstborn : When It Hits You Feel No Pain

Dark northern soul-tinged debut from Dubin-based DJ

6 / 10 Never underestimate the pull of the dark side. Even those who dance under disco lights have felt its powerful magic and Dublin
DJ Oisin Lunny is the latest to have succumbed.

His debut album as Firstborn doesn't disgrace itself by fitting into a lineage of dark and heavy
(© B Gillespie) beats-fuelled music alongside the likes of Massive Attack and David Holmes.
Where Lunny differs from his
dark side dance peers is that
he uses northern soul as his launchpad.

There's also some brooding techno-hop here, but Lunny succeeds best in emulating the powerful northern soul songs that he started out playing as a DJ in the '80s. To this end he's teamed up with veteran Tennessee-based northern soul singer Mary Love
on two brilliant modern torch-burning soul-singed stompers, 'Miracles' and 'Lay This Burden Down'. Even better is the album's opener, 'I Close My Eyes', which
is blasted out in a cloak of
dizzy horns by '70s soul star
Linda Clifford.

Less successful are the collaborations with Dublin writer Bennan Murphy. The drunken Irish rambling works well enough on 'Happy Days', but come the noir techno/poetry version of Dylan's 'Mr Tambourine Man', enough
is enough.

Ted Kessler

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