Reviews

Bruce Springsteen

Poor Bruce. If anyone else released an album as well-crafted and slickly produced as this, they would be praised to the heavens. But everything Springsteen does is measured against the success of his classic albums, Born To Run and The River. His recent releases, Working on a Dream and Wrecking Ball, lived up to expectations and suggested that Springsteen was maintaining his quality control at an age when most are content to kick back.

High Hopes has puzzled many. It is an album of Springsteen out-takes and covers, many of his own tracks. The most controversial is ‘American Skin’ (41 Shots), which Springsteen wrote after the killing of the unarmed immigrant, Amadou Diallo, by New York police in 1999. It has long been a staple of his live set. Springsteen did this track better justice on his Live in New York City album, in 2000, and why he reprises it here is a mystery.

The album’s production, despite its high, expensive gloss, does the tracks no service. Springsteen tends towards the high-blown and the melodramatic, and his producer’s job has often been to rein in his excesses. Here, he lets rip and the results are bewildering. There is an inappropriately chirpy brass section on the downbeat ‘Just Like The World,’ which sounds like it wandered in from an adjoining studio, and, elsewhere, there are ill-fitting Celtic flourishes: they make one track, ‘The Wall,’ sound like a knock-off of Sting’s ‘Fields of Gold’.

Most alarming are the contributions of Rage Against The Machine guitarist, Tom Morello. Morello is a new crush for Springsteen, as he is credited on each of the seven tracks on which he performs, alongside their titles. Unfortunately, his solos are like something a kid might post on Youtube. The worst is on The ‘Ghost of Tom Joad,’ an old folksong of Springsteen’s on which Morello shows off his mastery of that great death-metal cliché, shredding. It’s singularly awful.

Springsteen’s cover of Suicide’s ‘Dream Baby Dream’ may not be to everybody’s liking, but it is the least overblown track on the album. High Hopes will probably have the worst reviews of Springsteen’s career. It’s not all bad, but you’ve got to wonder why he bothered to release it.

Star Rating: 3/5

Craft: Vernacular

National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny

By Tina Darb O’Sullivan

‘Vernacular’ launched at the London Design Festival in September, 2013. The exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of the foundation of ‘Kilkenny Design Workshops’, which ran for 25 years. It traces the influence of KDW on Irish craft.

The exhibition, curated by Ann Mulrooney, in the National Craft Gallery, is split over two rooms. One features an installation by exhibition designer, Steven McNamara — a block of plinths is divided by willow rods standing on every second surface. This amplifies the colouring of the work in the vacant spaces. In the second room, he presents free-standing works and uses reconfigured plinths to mount textiles on the walls.

The most impressive of these pieces is a wall-mounted writing desk, ‘Falling Dansu’, a collaborative design from O’Donnell + Tuomey and Joseph Walsh Studio. The ash ply piece is representative of contemporary Irish taste. When shut, ‘Falling Dansu’ is minimalist, with sharp, clean lines. Opened, it reveals a luxurious red-leather writing pad and a myriad of spaces for storage.

Ceramicist Derek Wilson has a collection of functional, decorative vessels in various sizes. His fine work is wheel-thrown and finished with soft, matt glazes in numerous shades.

The concept of the vernacular is pushed by studio group, Superfolk, whose functional ware is made from Irish clay. The heavy tumblers are dip-glazed, leaving the clay body exposed on the exterior. Sensitivity to the materials is to the fore.

Inspired by honeycomb, Irish/Swedish design studio Woodenleg’s ‘Module’ table uses a hexagonal motif on the surface. The user can personalise the size and colour by joining multiple units together. In solid oak and eco resin, this innovative design is perfect for contemporary living spaces.

Andrew Clancy’s ‘The Strand Lamp’ is an elegant form in copper-and-brass tubing. One of the highlights of the exhibition, its simple design is a winner in both the desk and floor versions.

Star Rating: 4/5