‘It’s Alright to Show Yourself’ is the fourth single since Emperor of Ice Cream announced their return from a twenty-five-year hiatus in May with their previous singles all topping digital charts in Ireland. Their long-awaited debut album ‘No Sound Ever Dies’ recently entered the official Irish album charts while also hitting the No.1 spot in the indie charts, making it a staggering fourth No 1 since their comeback. ‘No Sound Ever Dies’ while achieving chart success at home, has been very well received internationally with tracks from the album gaining radio airplay in a massive 33 countries spanning the globe.
Rarely (if ever) has a band’s debut album taken as long to reach its fans as No Sound Ever Dies by Emperor of Ice Cream; but perhaps theirs’ is no ordinary story. The album’s title alludes to the feeling within the band when a 2020 newspaper article in the Irish Examiner elicited an emotional response from followers and ensured Cork’s FIFA Records thought it prudent to get the band members sitting around a virtual table.
Now based in Cork, Waterford, New York and Amsterdam, respectively Eddie Butt, John ‘Haggis’ Hegarty, Graham Finn and Colum Young, resolved to both delve into early releases from Emperor of Ice Cream and return to studio to put the finishing touches on a album that was shelved 25 years ago, when they prematurely parted company with their label, Sony Records.
They discovered a treasure trove of recordings and unfinished ideas that still sounded remarkably fresh despite the passing of time and began the process of completing a project that they had left Cork for London to work on during a heady period in the mid-nineties. Fledgling riotous performances and early demos had piqued the interest of several record labels, but Sony pipped them all to the post with a promising development deal, and the lure of London captured the imagination of the four young Cork musicians.
It resulted in three extremely well-received EPs (Overflow, William and Know Me) and recordings began with ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke of legends Motörhead, who has contributed work on three of the new album’s tracks. No Sound Ever Dies kicks off as it means to go on with the title track from the William EP, and what follows is a musical petri-dish of shoegaze sounds, with touches of psychedelia and classic indie rock.
Singles ‘Lambent Eyes’ and ‘Everyone Looks So Fine’ (which both enjoyed Number One positions in digital charts) are two gems on a rollercoaster Side A, while ‘High Rise Low Rise’ slows the pace down a little with its chilled Disintegration-like resonations. ‘Again and Again’ picks the pace up once more before the epic closer ‘Grow As You Are’ brings things to a crashing and fitting finale. Twenty-five years in the making, the appropriately-titled No Sound Ever Dies is testament to that very notion, and a poignant end to this chapter for a band who may have once burned out, but once again are shining brightly!!
