Eskimo Joe- Black Fingernails Red Wine

Eskimo Joe's third studio album is Black Fingernails Red Wine. It was released in 2006, two years after A Song Is A City.

The opening semi-instrumental, Comfort You, sets a great mood and high standard of nicely layered instrumentals for the album, in a similar manner as the opening track on Placebo's Sleeping With Ghosts. The occasional lyrics are more like a tag-line from a club remix, lacking of any real meaning. But that doesn't matter at all in this context, so it's a great introduction to the album.

Unfortunately, New York does have "proper" lyrics, but they feel emotionally distant and bring nothing to the experience. Which is a real shame, because musically the song is very good. The backing ebbs and flows very nicely, and it is intricate yet subtle. If only the narrative was up to the same standard. How Does It Feel and This Is Pressure suffer the same fate. Beating Like A Drum goes one worse- the lyrics are not just uninspiring, but actually painfully simplistic. Like U2 at their worst (eg Elevation), it is terribly literal lowest-common denominator music, which is an offence to an intelligent audience.

I won't go into specifics on how I find Breaking Up, Setting Sun and Reprise to be devoid of any redeeming features whatsoever. In general though, I somehow find the band's mood and art-rock intentions to be similar to Howling Bells. Yet the Howling Bells builds on the beautiful landscapes with a strong emotional appeal. Eskimo Joe... does not.

The title track, Black Fingernails Red Wine, is a fantastic quirky headbanging disco-rock number. In this case the lyrics are vivid and nicely obscure and vivid lyrics. I've got no idea what message they are trying to convey, but that never matters!

Similarly, Sarah is a great oddball pop song. Using a very similar recipe to Garbage's Bleed Like Me album, it has also perfected the art of snappy wall-of-noise explosions. The chorus is a treat, and somehow the drumming particularly stands out. Like Garbage at their best, it is pop-rock perfection. If I can continue the shameless name-dropping, there also seems to be a bit of Roy Orbison in the mix (e.g. Pretty Woman).

Finally, the chorus of Suicide Girl provides interesting between the bouncy music and the sombre lyrics. However, the rest of the song limps along, waiting for the next chorus to resuscitate it.

Favourite songs

Black Fingernails Red Wine, Sarah

Worthwhile?

Back in 2006, I found this album to be a moody and edgy masterpiece with enchantingly obscure lyrics. Sadly, time has not been kind to it at all. The pop hits are still enjoyable, but otherwise it is somehow lacklustre these days.