Futile Exorcise
33⅓ RPM 12” frosted transparent vinyl/digipak CD/digital, album, 40 mins, 2017.
Tracks:
Side 1:
Sunday Best (2.36)
Mackenzie (Smell of the Petrol) (3.25)
Bay of Biscay (3.36)
Lost High Street (11.00) video
Side 2:
Father’s Grave (3.51) video
Black Ear (6.47)
The Cruel Mother (with Lutine) (2.34)
Spit Valve (6.56)
Owd Scrat Records press release: “We at Owd Scrat are very proud to present our first full length LP, in beautiful transparent ectoplasm coloured vinyl and CD digipack, which is also the first by Liverpool UK based musician/artist/writer Paul Rooney under his own (full) name. Following on (though ten years later) from his acclaimed 2007 single Lucy Over Lancashire – a dub folklore epic narrated by a Satanic sprite – this long awaited album delves even further into the demonically possessed everyday. It is an album of revenant songs, in which various dead people return from beyond the grave to visit their lover, play poker or haunt a toilet seat. The record features many collaborators including actor Gregory Cox, mesmerizing ethereal harmonisers Lutine, and has a cover image by artist Leo Fitzmaurice.”
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“The best album you will hear this year, which was released last year…” Slobodan Vujanovic (Mislite Mojom Glavom blog). Sept. 2018 review of the work.
“For me, the only possible choice as best album of the year… Futile Exorcise… a truly great album.” Mark Whitby 2017 Review (Dandelion Radio). January 2018 radio broadcast of the work.
“Futile Exorcise… is arguably the Liverpool artist’s most accomplished collection to date… a richly layered sound that builds on the dubby spaciousness of Lucy… with a greater range of instrumentation, effects and, importantly, voices, both Paul’s own and guest vocalists.” Bryan Biggs (Bido Lito magazine). September 2017 review of the work.
Tessa Jackson (Constructing Connections art project newspaper). 2017 essay referencing the Father’s Grave track.
“This record is truly extraordinary. Street poetry c/w highly sophisticated prose underpinned by amazing musical arrangements. A spectacular concoction indeed with Paul’s tales of lost souls, be they dead or undead. And there’s plenty more topics of interest to be going on with as well. Surely destined to be one of the albums of the year.” Gavin Hellyer (Bandcamp website). June 2017 review of the work.
“Futile Exorcise, the brilliant new album from Liverpudlian multimedia artist Rooney… a record to return to again and again.” Julian Cowley (The Wire magazine). June 2017 review of the work.
“I’m not terribly adept at unqualified outlandish statements of praise so forgive me if this sounds clumsy: this is the most extraordinary album I’ve heard in at least seven years, and probably for much longer than that… It’s a work to be absorbed, laughed at, unsettled by, but above all enjoyed, over and over again.” Mark Whitby (Unwashed Territories blog). 14/5/2017 review of the work.
“I’m really, really chuffed to be able to tell you that Paul Rooney has not only returned, he has returned with a full length album… There’s a lot of great stuff on there, the album’s called Futile Exorcise… That’s just amazing stuff, fantastic to have Paul Rooney back with us.” Pete Jackson (Dandelion Radio). May 2017 radio broadcast of the work.
“I think there is a slylistic integrity between [Lucy Over Lancashire] and that one. You can see. You listen to it and you say: that’s Paul Rooney that.” Steve Barker, On the Wire (BBC Radio Lancashire). 29/4/2017 radio broadcast of the work.
“Talking of acoustical experiences here is a very surreal idea, it’s by Liverpool’s Paul Rooney, it uses spoken word… from the point of view of a bit of spittle stuck inside the tube of a trombone.” Verity Sharp, Late Junction (BBC Radio 3). 18/4/2017 radio broadcast of the work.
“It’s a remarkable album actually, its called Futile Exorcise… very welcome indeed… Highly recommended.” Roger Hill, PMS (BBC Radio Merseyside). 3/4/2017 radio broadcast of the work.
“…reimagining Flann O’Brien’s best work as wayward post-punk. Between the kitchen sink tragedy of a cuckolded ghost witnessing his wife’s new fellah wearing his very own ‘Sunday Best’ and his final metamorphosis into the contents of a trumpet’s ‘Spit Valve’, Rooney’s transmigration is a strange and beautiful journey through the bardo realms…” Stuart Marshall (The Sound Projector blog). 31/12/2017 review of the work.
Glen Jamieson (Outpost Gallery booklet). June 2011 interview about the installation version of Mackenzie (Smell of the Petrol) track.