Album Features
UPC:	093624594321
Artist:	Rollerskate Skinny
Format:	CD
Release Year:	1996
Record Label:	Warner Bros.
Genre:	Alternative, Rock & Pop

Track Listing
1. Swing Boat Yawning
2. Cradle Burns
3. One Thousand Couples
4. Swab the Temples
5. Speed to My Side
6. All Mornings Break
7. Man Under Glass
8. Shimmer Son Like a Star
9. Angela Starling
10. Ribbon Fat
11. Thirsty European
12. Bell Jars Away

Details
Playing Time:	58 min.
Producer:	Ger Griffin, Rollerskate Skinny, Stevie M., Aidan Foley
Distributor:	WEA (Distributor)
Recording Type:	Studio
Recording Mode:	Stereo
SPAR Code:	n/a

Album Notes
Rollerskate Skinny: Ken Griffin (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Stevie M. (guitar, keyboards, bass); Ger Griffin (guitar, keyboards, drum programming).Additional personnel: Clive Carroll, Conor Murray, Paul Cantwell (drums).Recorded at S.T.S. Studios, Dublin, Ireland between October 1994 and March 1995.Personnel: Ken Griffin (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Stevie Murray (guitar, keyboards, bass guitar); Ger Griffin (guitar, keyboards, drum programming); Stevie M. (guitar, keyboards); Paul Cantwell, Clive Carroll (drums).Audio Mixers: Ger Griffin; Stevie M.; Aiden Foley; Anjali Dutt; Rollerskate Skinny.Recording information: STS Studios, Dublin, Ireland (10/1994-03/1995).Photographer: Andrew Flynn.Rollerskate Skinny's Horsedrawn Wishes is an amazing 60 minutes of music that sounds like a stunning, warped genre onto itself. All four band members are credited with orchestration, and it's a credit that seems completely appropriate. Swirling, wailing, and buzzing guitars intersect with each other in a melodic cacophony that's as successful and innovative as My Bloody Valentine's trailblazing album Loveless; it should be noted that Rollerskate Skinny previously had Jim Shields (the brother of My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields) as a member. Where the band's debut Shoulder Voices was brilliant without complete cohesion, Horsedrawn Wishes contains a similar, amplified brilliance in a pool of focused songcraft. Each song is a mini-symphony, built on stunning melodies, charming hooks, and powerful dynamics. Some listeners might find the songs too busy, but that's where the music's heart rests; guitars, keyboards, and seemingly any instrument at hand blend into one smorgasbord of joy. Likeminded bands such as Mercury Rev and the Flaming Lips were never able to achieve the glory of a well-executed vision like that of Rollerskate Skinny here. It's quite hard to pick any songs as winners over others on the album. "Speed to My Side" sounds like the Beatles and My Bloody Valentine caught in a space-time continuum; Ken Griffin's touching vocals and a drum's thumping beat coalesce under crazed guitars in a soup of genius orchestration. The song is quite noisy, but equally gorgeous. "All Mornings Break" reveals the intelligent-spooky side of the band's sound. Hushed vocals and acoustic guitar suggest the La's in an echo chamber. "Shimmer Son Like a Star" seems lifted from a Mercury Rev and My Bloody Valentine collaboration that never happened. "Bell Jars Away" is as delicate as it is compelling, before falling apart in a grand way. Rollerskate Skinny creates elegant sounds, masters walls of guitars (and walls of other instruments as well), and arranges its songs so the hooks have maximum impact. Horsedrawn Wishes should be required listening for...everyone. It's one of the most original albums in rock and one of the best albums of the 1990s. ~ Tim DiGravina

Editorial Reviews
[W]ith guitars of every shape and size poking through every available surface, its pacing a testament to a lysergic imagination.
Magnet