In the bleak and blighted dimension of our musical world that can never be replaced by an AI bot and will never be the recipient of million dollar royalties, there lives Eamon The Destroyer and his new album “The Maker’s Quit” fully justifies his place in the pantheon of the periphery.
Devoid of highly paid session musicians, big name producers or any real commercial intent, “The Maker’s Quit” demonstrates what can be done when someone like Eamon the Destroyer is free to follow his own path. I am, somewhat vaguely, familiar with his past work so I could persevere beyond the obvious with this superficially incoherent collection of songs that, even when on an approach to the runway of conventionality, seem quite deliberately fractured. Each to his own, of course, yet, as this very individuality loops itself into the mists surrounding the abyss of inner reflection and consequent melancholy, all that you hear gains a rather unexpected focus. This isn’t, after all, a Girls Aloud reunion and the point is not to entertain your underpants and lipsync you towards the merchandise stall but to make this collection of discontinuities, misplaced soundtrack cues and almost disconnected soundbites into triggers for something potentially akin to an existential experience.
I doubt that an album like “The Maker’s Quit” would ever be drawn into the mainstream yet Eamon The Destroyer has made an album that sounds like the soundtrack to a movie that has not been made, is about as individual as you will find in these days of thought compliance and yet is still accessible to all who might care to listen to more than just another sales pitch for mediocrity.
Available on CD from Bandcamp and the usual digital places.