We keep our ears pretty low to the ground where literate music is concerned, so news of producer James Nichols' project using James Joyce's poetry sent our wee minds a-reeling. The author of Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Finnegan's Wake has inspired popular music for years—Jefferson Airplane, Lou Reed and Van Morrison are only three of the most famous Joyce-referencers—but rarely has he received such extensive treatment this side of the high art/low art seesaw.
Sorry, mate. This album packs heat somewhat different than madrigal choirs—no Fleet Foxes, even. Held within are Mike Watt (of the Minutemen), Ed Harcourt, Minus 5, Willy Mason, Mercury Rev and Text of Light (with Lee Ronaldo of Sonic Youth), to name only one-sixth of the yield.
From its initial inception, when Billboard told Nichols that “this will either be a landmark album or a pretentious failure," the project has come a long way. It was released June 21 on Fire Records.




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