The Rags

Led by vocalist and songwriter Daniel Anderson, The Rags have built a passionately devoted following on home shores for their sophisticated blend of melodically inventive guitar-pop and razor-sharp lyrical expressiveness. Announcing their arrival on the scene with a succession of rapturously received EP releases, The Rags returned from an extended spell in the studio in May 2010 with the release of their debut album ‘A National Light’ featuring 12 tracks that provide the foundation for a remarkable modern pop record. From the album’s headrushingly potent title track, replete with vivid imagery of Ireland’s prodigal literary heroes recoiling at “smut magazines and souls as black as sin” to the sordid conspiracies observed amid the swirling web of Smiths-esque guitar hooks and throbbing drumbeats of ‘A Murderous Chant’, the feelings and sentiments expressed on tracks by The Rags are underpinned by a unifying sense of purpose. From the deceptively danceable, Wildean-themed elaboration on superficiality ‘A Mirror To A Woman (Is A Bullet In A Gun)‘ to the quiet desperation at the heart of the delicately psychedelic ‘Owner Of A Loveless Life’, ‘A National Light’ laments the spirit-crushing travails of modernity while shining a benelovant beam of consolation on us all.