michael canning

Looks like I was premature the other week when I listed my fave ten or so for 2017. “Cordyline Australis” should have been there.

And I have to say I envy all of you - you haven’t heard this yet. The first listen  - if you put aside the hour and turn it on - you’ll be damn impressed. This is one hugely groovy disc.

You don’t know Michael Canning from a bag of chops, of course; he’s on Facebook as Michael Sea, and I did a review of his band’s last EP, “Mass Spectrometer”; I should also point out that Canning has released one earlier solo LP, and a slew of other music with other bands. Hassle the man on FB, but also go here.

Chirality - Michael Canning (Ghostjogger Records)

Michael Canning, a UK-based New Zealand scientist and occasional multi-instrumental character, has released his fourth LP. Which is joyful, groovy, interesting and downright fun. 

The word "chirality" comes from the Greek “kheir”, meaning “hand”; a familiar chiral object. It's a term used by chemistry and physics characters. To quote a textbook: "Stereoisomers are isomers that differ in spatial arrangement of atoms, rather than order of atomic connectivity. One of their most interesting type of isomer is the mirror-image stereoisomers, a non-superimposable set of two molecules that are mirror image of one another. The existence of these molecules are determined by concept known as chirality."

But you knew that, right?

_{Photo of Mark E Smith: Irish Times}

It has been brought to my attention that, in my last article on The Fall, I got a lyric wrong; it's not “this is the three hours”, but “this is the three 'r's.

As Jimi once said, “s’cuse me while I kiss this guy”. 

Mis-hearing lyrics is one of the joys of music. Having too much information too easily available can destroy the mystique. It took ages to work out Pete Shelley's line “who do you think you're trying to arouse/ Get your hand out of my trousers” by playing the disc over and over (uh, back in the 70s), and that was kind of the point.