Professional Career
His lyrics focus on politics, the seamy side of relationships and the interplay between the two, utilising surreal imagery and literary and historical references. He also sets his songs against varied musical styles, encompassing everything from neo-classical to techno and eschewing any clear or confining identity. His work can be tough and uncompromising, but full of melody, invention, strange key-changes and a delight in playing with the traditional structures of the pop song. He has recorded with comedian Sean Hughes as "Bubonique" releasing a number of CDs parodying current musical trends including "20 Golden Showers" and "Trance Arse Volume 3".
His voice has prompted comparisons with Scott Walker, whom Coughlan considers a major influence. As a solo musician, he has completed five albums, the most recent of which is Rancho Tetrahedron. The first album, Grand Necropolitan, is available to download for free from his website. Coughlan is based in London and has become increasingly involved in musical theatre. In 2006 he was described in The Irish Times as the 'genius of Irish rock'. He was the subject of the documentary 'The Adventures of Flannery' which had screenings in Cork, Belfast, Dublin and further afield.
In August 2010, Coughlan released the album Rancho Tetrahedron, credited to "Cathal Coughlan and the Grand Necropolitan Quartet". The Irish Times noted that "Coughlan's mixture of acerbity and dark lyricism is sustained on his fifth solo album, that there is a subtle Latin influence on the music, and Coughlan's Scott Walker inflected voice has never sounded better." Earlier in the year Coughlan had also duetted with Dave Couse on the song "Good Friday" from Couse's Alonewalk, a union notable, some would say, for involving Ireland's two most mordant song writers.
In 2011, Coughlan began a collaboration with the British singer-songwriter Luke Haines and the writer Andrew Mueller, resulting in the live song/speech show The North Sea Scrolls, for a premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2011. The studio recording of The North Sea Scrolls was released November 2012.
Read more about this topic: Cathal Coughlan (singer)
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