Featuring 22 tracks, the album encompasses a breadth of song styles (from dreamy guitar pop and ambient to rock and electronic) that tip the hat to genres without slavishly sticking to their rules. There is wit, too, as the intro to We’re Listening to David Bowie proves (if you know, you know), while the sequencing of tracks (one instructive example of which is the segue between The Stars and Can I Make You Realise?) makes for an altogether more engaging listen throughout. As a taster of Furlong’s creative talents, 2019-2023 is an obvious choice. As a stand-alone album of tracks people may not have heard before, and that will assuredly pique their interest, it’s a winner.
(Tony Clayton-Lea, The Irish Times)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hitting real peaks of beauty on tracks like Alien and the very classy Bow Down… The boldly titled R.E.M. Saved My Life Tonight sparkles with electric guitars, and Athens – possibly another nod to Michael Stipe and co – scales real heights of euphoria. There’s also blissful lounge music on Sleeping in Outer Space and Your Sad Smile is that moment in a New Wave movie when the boy finally loses the girl. The industrious Furlong has penned a love letter to his musical heroes that sparks with moments of stark originality.
(Alan Corr, RT\u00c9 Entertainment)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Are You Gonna Sleep Tonight?\u2019 is a lush shoegaze tune bursting with ethereal soundscapes and Conor Furlong\u2019s expressive, irresistible musicianship. The complex arrangement of the song and deft production leaves much to be admired; while elements of 90\u2019s rock, psychedelia and shoegaze blend to create an utterly tantalising and refreshing soundscape for listeners to immerse themselves in. \u2018Are You Gonna Sleep Tonight?\u2019 is a gem to treasure.
\u2019Survive\u2019 is a magnificent tune that surges with dreamy, intricate and vibrant musicianship and is a joy to listen to. Furlong spreads driving guitars, lush hazy soundscapes and divine\u00a0melodies over tightly weaved percussion to create a wholly immersive and tantalizing listening experience. Blending tones of melancholia with bright euphoric soundscapes \u2018Survive\u2019 is a gloriously compelling tune.
(Danu, indiebuddie.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So many songs on this album are anthemic, designed for huge stadiums and massive volume. Take a listen to \u2018Bow Down\u2019 for some fine musicality, with twisty-turny guitar lines conjuring fun moods. Look at \u2018Athens\u2019 for its massive, anthemic energy. \u2018Sleeping in Outer Space\u2019 is the soundtrack to an alien child falling asleep sucking its thumb. \u2018Your Sad Smile\u2019 takes all your heartstrings and plays them like a harp. There is so, so much packed into every track that can be flaunted like peacock feathers. With such sheer talent and Trojan work ethic on display, it\u2019s hard not to feel excited about the future for Conor Furlong. Rapid Eye Movement is bursting with talent, songwriting prowess and incredible potential.
\n(Will Mac Aoidh, Headstuff)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conor Furlong has been making waves with the announcement of his debut album Rapid Eye Movement. The album is represented well by lead single R.E.M Saved My Life Tonight, a ballad track filled with anthemic guitars and soaring vocals. A pretty beautiful introduction to the artist, it showcases his skills as a songwriter. Rapid Eye Movement is filled with a tracklist varying in style and moods. Weaved in between solid pop songs like Summer Song and seven minutes, spiritualized inspired tracks like Bow Down. It is the tense interlude Dream which carries the listener through a huge number of emotions in a short space of time. It\u2019s a great record from Conor Furlong, he has showcased his talents very clearly and Rapid Eye Movement feels like an artist really honing his craft as a musician.
\n(Fionn Crossan, XS Noize)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rapid Eye Movement<\/em> is an album full of really, really strong songs. Full of big choruses, catchy hooks and a cohesive, relentless energy throughout. Album closer ‘Endless Sky’ wraps it all up beautifully with its plaintive strings and pianos punctuated by a harmonica motif that invariably evokes a nostalgic wave of emotion. Impressively, Furlong wrote, produced, arranged and performed all of his latest album, Recurring Dream<\/em>, himself. Taking inspiration from a wide range of art and musical legends \u2013 including R.E.M., Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, David Bowie, Hitchcock, Salvador Dali and Monet (to name but a few) \u2013 Furlong boasts an expansive sound that sits somewhere between grunge and synth-pop. Conor Furlong has just released a new record that’s stunning… Speaking of great Irish artists, I listened to a really beautiful album this week by Conor Furlong. There are lots of really beautiful tracks on it. This one in particular [Alien], I fell in love with it, I think it’s really magical. The song \u201cAlien\u201d has a misty and hypnotic quality, quite mesmerizing and yet, there is sadness to it as well, like falling in love yet knowing it will end far too soon, yet doing it all anyway, like moving into a ghost town and hoping for company. It is both beautiful and melancholy simultaneously. This amazing piece of music is available for download\/streaming now. \u201cGiselle\u201d which gets things off to a stirring start ahead of the absorbingly buoyant instrumentation and enticingly soft yet sonorous singing of \u201cAlien\u201d. This is followed by the affable and uplifting \u201cR.E.M. Saved My Life Tonight\u201d, after which \u201cSummer Song\u201d entrances with its upbeat music and pleasant melody. When it\u2019s done, \u201cDream\u201d builds a strikingly unique and atmospheric bridge to \u201cBow Down\u201d, which arrests with its expressive vocals and cheery instrumentation before it passes the torch to the terrifically dynamic \u201cAthens\u201d. \u201cSleeping in Outer Space\u201d is an endearingly gentle addition next that showcases an assortment of soothing instrumentation ahead of the affecting \u201cYour Sad Smile\u201d, which precedes a superbly spirited finale in the form of \u201cIn Paradise\u201d. Furlong has composed a captivatingly cordial record here that smoothly fuses together elements of the genres of pop, rock and shoegaze. Its consistently canorous vocals and amiable music should attract a sizable and diverse listenership. Here\u2019s a real Dublin DIY phenomenon: Conor writes, records and plays all his own music, releases it via his own website, then rings the journo up to make sure he got his copy. “Peace of Mind” is a lovely, sad piano-painted tune, as is the B-side (titled “B Side”), so we\u2019ll be looking forward to his call. Conor Furlong’s gorgeous mixture of lush orchestration, tender vocals and sombre piano make “Peace of Mind” a pleasure. Conor’s gift for haunting melody is similar in fashion to Deserter’s Songs-era Mercury Rev. You could dismantle his entire album and pick and choose any or all of the tracks as standout singles for any number of established artists. It further cements Conor Furlong as an immense talent, the likes of which you seldom have the joy of seeing. At the end of the day, it\u2019s about the songs. On paper, in your ear, in your head, and Conor Furlong has them. Dublin native Conor Furlong has a voice that nourishes the soul. With an ear for haunting melody \u2013 and the voice and musicianship to match \u2013 hopes are high as Conor Furlong\u2019s LP begins. \u2018All That I Gave\u2019 is a decent opening salvo, followed by the energetic and catchy \u2018Alive\u2019. By the time the outstanding \u2018In My Arms\u2019 is done \u2013 and you\u2019ve reminded yourself that it\u2019s not Jen Lekman you\u2019re listening to, but a self-produced Dubliner \u2013 things are looking very promising indeed. Last week Furlong released his latest single, \u2018Eyes Open\u2019, the first thing that struck me was how his vocal reminded me of Mercury Rev\u2019s Jonathan Donahue, but also, in conjunction with the music, \u2018Eyes Open\u2019 led me to recall Moby\u2019s \u2018God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters\u2019 from his 1995 album, Everything Is Wrong. As the track progresses you cease to notice Furlong\u2019s vocal, and this is a good thing, if that makes sense, you have been so subsumed by the entire soundscape he has created that his voice becomes a guiding whisper in the far distance. I get the sense that he has a full box of tricks he\u2019s just waiting to unleash on us. “Alive” is homemade but epic. \u2018Are You Gonna Sleep Tonight?\u2019 is downright moving. Given the soaring chorus, it\u2019s already perched high on my list for songs of the year. Furlong has an immense talent, he can do what many other artists lay awake at night longing for, he can take you into his world and show you around. Comparison-wise, sometimes [his music] harks to something that Nick Cave may accomplish in his solo guise, but there are mighty hints of bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mogwai et al. Mercury Rev is another influence that oozes from the record. Well thought out songs with deep messages but completely without pretension and bullshit – something very uncommon in the Dublin music scene these days. There are times where Joy Division\u2019s Ian Curtis comes to mind, maybe it\u2019s because of the underlying tone of sadness and regret common with Joy Division or maybe it\u2019s because like Curtis, Furlong isn\u2019t afraid to bare all for his music. It is one hell of a journey, hopefully this album will be a stepping stone to greater heights. Furlong\u2019s vision and application to his craft are commendable to say the least. He\u2019s definitely one to watch. Swirls and stretches your ears in all directions, a veritable smorgasbord of sonic delights. “So, You Think That You’re A Star?” is a real winner, a wholesome slice of mellow alt-rock that builds magnificently …Furlong’s voice has a beguiling quatility to it. Furlong’s tunes are a beatific blend of dreamy folk, sunny harmonies and lazy electronica with a psychedelic twist. Like the meeting of The Beach Boys, Air and a bit of Mercury Rev. Featuring 22 tracks, the album encompasses a breadth of song styles (from dreamy guitar pop and ambient to rock and electronic) that tip the hat to genres without slavishly sticking to their rules. There is wit, too, as the intro to We’re Listening to David Bowie proves (if you know, you know), while the sequencing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-73","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/conorfurlong.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/conorfurlong.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/conorfurlong.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/conorfurlong.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/conorfurlong.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":81,"href":"http:\/\/conorfurlong.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3780,"href":"http:\/\/conorfurlong.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73\/revisions\/3780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/conorfurlong.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
(Dan Hegarty, 2FM)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Paul Fitzpatrick, The GOO)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Tanis Smither, Hot Press)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n(Kelly-Anne Byrne, Today FM)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n(Joseph Timmons, Indie Pulse Music)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n(Dave Simpson, Pure M)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n(Kevin Courtney, The Irish Times)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n(Killian Murphy, Hot Press)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Nate Mona, Pure M)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n(Nialler9.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Take You Out\u2019 is an impressively serviceable slice of Coldplay-esque balladry. Combined with the album’s impressive opening, it confirms that Conor Furlong has considerable talent.
One to keep an eye on.
(Colm O\u2019Regan, Hot Press)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Remy Connolly, thebestofmusicandfilm.blogspot.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n(Eoin Butler, The Irish Times)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(MP3Hugger.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Jonathan Bourke, Drop-D)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n(The Show Fuss blog)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Jackie Hayden, Hot Press)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n(Metro)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n(Dave Kennedy, Road Records)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"