wHole

The title track, "wHole," in its third-place position on the album, serves to define the entire tone of the album. The song "wHole," itself, is a play on words, and the songs you will find here are the stories of individuals who are anything but "whole." The songs collected on this sophomoric CD from Little Palace are all searching for those missing pieces to complete the self, the situation, the search. "Is this me under my skin?" The journey to find the self begins with this idea.

The most stand-out song is "Tourniquet," with its infectious bass line, superior percussion, and guitar solos that compel you to sit up and take notice. Combine this with melodic harmonies and the easy way that the lyrics spill from Brunnock's generous store of brilliant material and lines which seem plucked from the Theatre of the Absurd, and you have a song of unmatched caliber.

"End Game" finds Brunnock's usually tender voice stripped and raw. His voice digs its heels in the dirt and launches at you, quelled only when joined by Ann-Louise Mulvaney's chilling harmony. The strings which intro this song mirror Brunnock's voice, simultaneously course and refined. This piece is an instant favorite.

"Soft White and Indigo" is an earnest offering which on the surface seems so simple, but it is an exercise of both vocal and string feats of excellence.

It is clear from songs such as "Tourniquet," "My Way," and "wHole" that Brunnock is comfortable with language and that language is equally comfortable to pour forth from Brunnock like a stream running swiftly down a mountain, taking the curves where needed without missing a beat.

Percussion is a definite strong point on this album and its employment serves as the mortar the binds the ballads to the rockers.

One does not need to understand Gaelic to recognize the incompleteness expressive in the lonesome vocal strains of the beautiful elegy, "An Buan".

Invoking gems of wisdom ("Every path is the one when walked by companions," and the deliciously dual-meaninged, "pride is enough to bring a nation to its knees"), posing thought-provoking ideas with no explanatory redundancy ("Happiness was born a twin"), and lamenting the inevitable situations when "sympathy is a luxury," this is a thinking person's compilation.

Despite the excellent musical talents that contribute to make this album, the vocals of the three members of Little Palace are what really define this band. Their voices rise together, pass through one another, become one, and just as easily return to themselves like beams of colored light crossing and changing and separating again. Occasionally, a guitar will sneak itself into the trio to become the fourth vocalist.

Unfortunately, Little Palace disbanded in 2000, but Brunnock has continued as a solo artist, releasing his solo debut, the brilliant So I Do, in June of 2007. It is a slight departure from his work with Little Palace, but continues in the same vein of imaginative and intelligent songwriting found on Whole. On one point, Brunnock hits the nail on the head: he is, indeed, on his way.

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