Hal
What A Lovely Dance - Video Streams
Released - January 24th on Rough Trade

What A Lovely Dance… what an inspiring start to 2005. Hal return with their second single for Rough Trade.

What A Lovely Dance is the sound of four young Irish men by-passing
the computerised production line of 21st century music to create a
soaring torch song of love and loss with all the lyrical country soul
of 'Astral Weeks' era Van Morrison and the grand melodic sweep of a
young Reg Dwight in full on 'Tiny Dancer' mode.

Hal are a hymn to blissful isolation, their debut album (due in April)
is both populist and arcane, modern yet infused with an old school
quality. This much you will know if you heard their first single,
'Worry About The Wind', a tribute to The Band's Rick Danko, which –
not unlike the aforementioned '70s folk-rock gods – married the kind
of harmonies that never go out of fashion to a sylvan verve and
otherworldly sensibility. Except the Band, or indeed any other outfit,
weren't endowed with someone with vocals as breathtaking as Dave
Allen, whose falsetto-voiced delivery adds Hal's songs a saintly
lustre and evokes the days when rock was blessed with a sun-kissed
innocence.

Hal are brothers Dave (26, lead vocals/guitar) & Paul (23, vocals, bass), Steve Hogan (28, drums) and Stephen O'Brien (27, keyboards) andall hail from Kiliney, south of Dublin. Dave and Stephen struck up a rare songwriting bond, composing for two years every night, though both of them had day jobs, obsessing over each and every aspect of Hal's sound. The pair enlisted Paul after a year of writing together. The core of the group in place, they secured a residency at the Sugar
Club in Dublin, securing a gig a month until - six months into their schedule - Rough Trade beat a host of labels to their signatures. Since then they've enjoyed a spate of on the road adventures, touring with The Delays, Starsailor and Grandaddy, none of whom sound like Hal.

Then again, who does?

http://www.halmusic.com