Solitude Sounds: Revelino – Revelino – Album Review
by Killian Laher

Revelino were a Dublin based band active in the 90s and early noughties.  Several of the members had been in the Coltranes, including singer Brendan Tallon, a former Bohemians footballer.  This self-titled album was their debut, released in 1994.

Opening up the album is one of the great Irish 90’s rock tracks; Happiness Is Mine.  It does the quiet/loud thing perfectly, a muted verse which bursts into a soaring chorus over meaty guitar riffs.  It was a song that stopped you in your tracks on first hearing.  Much of the album is a kind of REM/Pixies hybrid, with songs like Hello and That’s What Emily Said.

The slow-burning Don’t Lead Me Down oozes along with a sensitive, close-miked Tallon vocal and sparse guitar lines, while Taking Turns features guitar jangle worthy of the Byrds or early REM.  It’s an album informed by rather than influenced by what else was going on in the 90s, Tallon’s vocal on No Forever Girl has shades of Kurt Cobain.  But in the main it’s a case of lean back and enjoy some glorious guitar lines, particularly on the final two tracks, Slave, and the moody Tonight.  On this latter track Brendan Tallon softly sings “your hair is beautiful tonight”.

Although the album received favorable reviews, it didn’t lead to much actual popularity, and two albums later the band called it a day, but if ever there was an album deserving of ‘cult status’, Revelino’s debut is it.