"Somehow Love Conquers Pain is The Kavanaghs" first album", says bass player, singer and composer Tiago Galíndez in the video documentary that comes with the CD version of the album, the bands' second one containing original material (besides the releases Christmas Again (Single) and the covers EP This Is Where We Come From). "In our first album [The Kavanaghs, 2009, ES 2215] we wanted to sound and to look retro. We wanted to be like our heroes, like the bands that influenced us. There's a change in this new album".
Their debut album deliberately sounded (almost) like it was recorded in the 60's. Guitars without effects, Beatle basslines, lo fi drums, acoustic pianos, clean voices in the middle of the stereo image. In Love Conquers Pain the band seems to want to tell us that they grew tired of being compared to their idols and took to the studio all the gear they didn't use for the first album: guitar pedals, digital effects, subtle synthesizer lines, elaborated vocal arrangements and post-disco music drum patterns. Luckily, the musical and songwriting talent they shown on the first album were kept.
Love Conquers Pain opens with the single "Tonight", a fast and powerful song with a little bit of The Strokes' guitars. It is followed by "Come On (Before The Wind)", written by the drummer Seba Cairo, the slower "It's Real" and "Emma Peel", the first direct reference to the 60s, the swinging London and classic pop culture (Emma Peel was the fictitious name of the girl from The Avenger classic TV series). Then there's a ballad, "Something's About To Happen", the powerful "That's All You Need To Know", that should be a hit single, "Those Days", again written and sung by drummer Seba Cairo, "About Tomorrow", reflexive and almost melancholic, sung by Tiago. Track 9 is another composition by Seba Cairo, "I Need A Pity Day"; track 10, an almost 70's funky song, crossed by guitar lines so processed that they resemble synth lines, "Last Dance", that gives way to another ballad, "Away From All We Know", that keeps growing till it reaches a Hey Jude-like final chorus full of voices. The last two tracks are the hyper catchy and radial "Love Scripts", pure powerpop with 60's tambourines, and the quiet "Waiting For The Times To Change".
This last song, relaxed and careless in which the main character seems to adopt a passive philosophy, is a strange way to finish an album that The Kavanaghs have made a conscious effort for it to be unforgettable. The CD version of the album comes as a 7'' deluxe digipak (the size of a vinyl single disc) that comes with a high quality booklet with pictures taken by Elio Truant and Ruben Abud in which the band walks around a wheat field outside of Rosario, their home town. The same effort and dedication was given to the music video for "Tonight" in which the members of the band play cards for a lot of money until a girl gets between them and causes a car chase at a famous Rosario tunnel. We like to bet high, The Kavanaghs seem to say in a subtle way, the same way we bet high by making this second album, improving the sound, the voices, the mastering, the pictures, the packaging and everything that depends on us. We are a today band, not one from the 60s, and we want to reach today people with a modern and accessible sound.
We come from Rosario, Argentina, but we want to conquer the world. If there's any justice in the land of pop music, sooner or later The Kavanaghs will. In the meantime, let's have some fun listening to Love Conquers Pain.
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