Harmless Noise, Nay McArdle July 30th 2013:Those already familiar with the work of Justin Grounds and Pearse McGloughlin might remember that a few months ago, a free download of Nastasya’s Tears was given away as a free download ahead of the full release of Idiot Songs. Now the album is available to stream in full, and a wonderful video has been made by Pearse’s brother Kevin McGloughlin for the track Villages Of Ether. Keeping it in the family, other brother Páraic did the artwork.
I’m not sure what the technical name for tunnel-vision type shots with fixed perspective is, but I know I love it. It’s a fantastic piece of work with marvellous textures and symbolism. According to the description, it is “Set in the subconscious, this piece interrogates what it means to recognise a difficulty in oneself. The video endeavours to depict struggles with anxiety and ultimately the elimination of self doubt.”I’m utterly overwhelmed by the quality of work here and more than anything, long to abandon my place in front of this laptop and, with these songs drifting outwards, want to pull The Idiot from my bookshelf and disappear for a week. It’s a beautiful homage to the empathy and creativity of Dostoyevsky and without a doubt one of the best concept albums I’ve heard in my time.Spanning nine tracks, Idiot Songs was created over the course of winter as a collaborative project between Justin and Pearse, even when they both resided in different continents. Apparently analysis and correspondence was sparse and with unspoken but shared ideals for the most part, the two worked in harmony. If you head over to the project’s Tumblr, there are lots of interesting entries that document the creative process of the album, from notes, lyrics, arrangements and emails between the two musicians. One example is this entry which outlines the opening piece to the album The Courage Of Truth which is played on violin and autoharp. The tracks are seamlessly constructed, so much that there’s not the slightest inkling of suggestion that they were recorded in anything less than the conventional manner. More melancholy than mellifluous, they brood, calculate, extract, hint and ponder over the different themes that run through the novel, picking titles from people, places and precepts.While The Idiot is a literary classic, the music on offer here, though described as ‘chamber songs’, is definitely contemporary. The use of piano and violin and other high grade instruments give that classy sheen of rich sound, but it’s in the rigour of electronic beats and droning drifts where the musicians’ progressive nous comes to the fore. The majority of the songs are structured around electronics, with vocals that implore and petition on behalf of the characters. A special tip of the cap goes to Enda Roche who recorded some key parts, notably piano and vocals on the above video’s track Villages Of Ether, as well as guitars on Nastasya’s Tears.If the above hasn’t sold you on the album, or the book, I at least hope your interest has been piqued enough to seek out a live performance of the music. Having just played Knockanstockan, the next festival to be graced with Idiot Songs presence is Castlepalooza this Sunday 4 August. After that a succession of more intimate gigs follow, at the Black Box in Belfast on 6 Aug, Spirit Store in Dundalk on 7 Aug and Odessa in Dublin on 8 August. The Irish Times, Tony Clayton-Lea, August 12th 2013:Sligo singer-songwriter Pearse McGloughlin and Cork-based English songwriter/musician Justin Grounds have teamed up to create an album inspired, in part, by Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. If that all sounds a tad too esoteric for you, then prepare to be shamed, surprised and beguiled by a short suite of forlorn tunes that exemplify elegance, subtlety and good taste. If there’s a starkness and solitariness to proceedings, then blame the winter of 2013, as the pair – McGloughlin in Ireland, Grounds in Canada – delivered and worked through mixes online. It matters little if you’re unfamiliar with the source; what’s important is what the two have created, which is a series of sonic gems (gifted with beats and beautifully spectral spoken-word inserts) that breathe life and art into electronic music. www.idiotsongs.bandcamp.com 4****Nialler 9 – Album of the Week August 12th, 2013:An album by two musicians collaborating via a shared love of Dostoevsky produces a fine collection of “electronic chamber” music.On their own, Pearse McGloughlin and Justin Grounds are two fine writers of songs. McLoughlin is a Sligo man, who released his second album In Movements, along with his band Nocturnes last year. That album pushed him further into a more hazy form of starry-night indie-folk anchored by a very soft vocal timbre.Grounds meanwhile, an Englishman who recorded an excellent album of atmospheric electro-acoustic music, The Dissolving in 2010 in a cottage in Clonakilty, Co. Cork.The pair met on the circuit as it were, and formed a bond that led to a collaboration, over Dropbox, that resulted in Idiot Songs, an album of “electronic chamber” music.The catalyst for the collaboration was a shared love of 19th century Russian author Dostoevsky, particularly his novel The Idiot and that influence gives this excellent release its impetus.

The lyrics are inspired by the book’s plot and passages as far as I can tell (I have not read the book) and as such are imbued with a thematic purpose that lends McGloughlin, the main singer here, an urgency previously not heard.The music has a cinematic nous that drawing from such a rich source material can provide. Opener ‘The Courage Of Truth’ uses an autoharp and a violin to establish a very Russian introductory scene, while electro-acoustic arrangements are the main descriptor throughout.‘Nastasya’s Tears’ marries strident electronic beats with elegant violin and guitar. ‘Devils’ is a hypnotic bass bubbling production with autoharp chords ringing out with Grounds providing a filmic monologue. ‘Villages of Ether’ (watch the stunning video by Pearse’s brother Kevin below) leans more towards the twinkling piano grandeur of Sigur Ros than anything else here while ‘Jung Trickster’ is a companion song in tone to Nina Hynes’ excellent Dancing Suns.Over 34 minutes, the pair, with help from Enda Roche, create what the best albums manage to do, an atmosphere exclusive to itself with its own identity. By indebting the project to Dostoevsky and partnering up, McLoughlin and Grounds have made an album greater than their two talents. No idiots here. … The Mark Magazine:Inspirados pelo livro O Idiota de Dostoiévski, Pearse McGloughlin e Justin Grounds lançaram o disco eletrônico Idiots Songs, e dele saiu o clipe de “Villages Of Ether“. Dan Hegarty, The Alternative, 2FMAlbum of the Week 5th August 2013:Taking inspiration from Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’, Pearse McGloughlin and Justin Grounds have put together an album that impresses on just about every level. ‘Idiot Songs’ was recorded in the cold of winter in various locations (Clonakilty, Canada, Sligo and Dublin). This could be called a concept album, but don’t let that put you off!BBC Across The Line:Melding braying electronic beats with graceful guitar and violin, ‘Nastasya’s Tears’ is a single by Pearse McGloughlin and Justin Grounds AKA Idiot Songs, brilliant singer-songwriters in their own right (the former hailing from Co. Sligo, the latter an Englishman who recorded his most recent album in Clonakilty, Co. Cork). Taking from the duo’s new full-length, self-titled release – a concept album borne from a mutual love of the literary works of Dostoyevsky, composed and constructed via Dropbox – ‘Nastasya’s Tears’ is a beautifully executed, impressively constructed track instantly calling to mind the likes of Villagers, Death Cab For Cutie and – another Ben Gibbard project – The Postal Service. Jim Carroll, The Irish Times :Pearse McGloughlin and Justin Grounds tap Dostoevsky for inspiration on splendid collaborative album of folky pen-pictures2013 – Idiot Songs, Your Music Today:Once upon a time Pearse McGloughlin and Justin Grounds read The Idiot, written by Dostoevsky and both fell in Love with it. Inspired, they start making electronic chamber music together. One of the results is Villages Of Ether, out of their album Idiot Songs. Check the magnificent video that has been made for it by Kevin McGloughlin.Set in the subconscious, this piece interrogates what it means to recognise a difficulty in oneself. The video endeavours to depict struggles with anxiety and ultimately the elimination of self doubt.Music Alliance Pact – Global Bloggers Mixtape – Irish contribution August 2013:IRELAND: Harmless Noise
Idiot Songs – Jung Trickster 
Idiot Songs, the collaboration between Pearse McGloughlin and Justin Grounds, is a contemporary interpretation of Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot and hears the duo craft a musical concept around the Russian novel, with its tale of moral and social dilemma. Created for the most part while Grounds and McGloughlin were living in Ireland and Canada respectively, electronic beats are used to give pace and tension, while the use of classical arrangements of piano and violin give a timelessness that harks back to the chamber music of the novel’s setting. If you like Jung Trickster check out the exceptional video for Villages Of Ether.I-Con’s Album of the Month on Phantom 105.2FM, September 2013NOISE BLOG – WEARENOISE – GARY HANON 28th August 2013:Review: Idiot Songs by Justin Grounds & Pearse McGloughlinIf you dislike pop music and consider yourself to have an open mind musically, then do yourself a favour: listen to this album (preferably in the FLAC format) on a good sound system/good headphones five times, over the period of at least a few days. You will thank me. Perhaps after a couple of listens you will lose faith. Do not. This is a great album, which rewards repeated listening. To whet your appetite, check out the incredible video to ‘Villages of Ether’, made by Pearse’s brother, Kevin (below). This song, like much of this album, challenges the nature of what a single is, and what pop music is.Idiot Songs is a concept album inspired by Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot. The opener, ‘The Courage of Truth’, an instrumental, sounds like Russian folk music. In case you do not notice this, the opening lyrics (from the second track ‘Nastasya’s Tears’) set the scene: “Dark clouds gathered / On the snowy skies above / It’s hard to lose / An Idiot’s love”. This song is as close as the album gets to a standard pop song.The album is the work of Sligo-born, Dublin-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Pearse McGloughlin, and English-born, Clonakilty-based, (same skill set as above), but with the added accolades of composer and sound engineer, Justin Grounds. They are both very talented men. Many different instruments are played on the album, including: violins, autoharp, piano, guitar, programmed beats, synthesisers, and samplers. This is 21st century folk music, not in an Icelandic Bedroom Community kind of way, but in a more timeless way.‘Devils’ is a glitchy tune of 200 BPMs (faster than drum n’ bass) with Thom Yorke-like production, juxtaposed with half speed autoharp and lovely vocals, such as “don’t chide me piously”. Justin recites poetry over the top, as they play spatially with time and sound.The fact that there is a video for ‘Villages of Ether’ can make it a single. This is not in the usual song structure of a typical single (that of AABA, where A is verse and B chorus), but rather in a sort of an ABC structure. It starts fairly routinely with a three chord progression, but then in the next section it has Sigur Ros-like building arpeggios, introducing a verse that is recited first by a computer, and then sung by Pearse. He opens the final section absolutely beautifully, singing: “Come in from the dark dear darling … Come in from your ethereal roaming”. As it ends, you’re left basking in the beauty of the song. Not your typical single so, but the best single I’ve heard this year!‘Jung Trickster’ is only beats and vocals for most of the song, reminiscent of Massive Attack. However, there are no ripped-off 70’s fusion samples, these are recordings of a Russian train yard made by Justin while he was on the Trans-Siberian Railway, no less. Violins, the first musical instruments of the piece, are introduced at the end. With the closing lines, “Our anima centuries old / Past the confines of our telescopes”, recalling Carl Jung’s collective unconscious, they hint at the limitless nature of both time and space. This is heady stuff, normally beyond the remit of pop music.The ‘Epilogue (Myshkin Tree)’ is a kind of final thought to the album. It has both folk and classical elements, interspersed with massive beats. This album took only three weeks of intense recordings and sharing files, followed by a couple of months of tweaking mixes, before it went for mastering.There are some albums I listen to that I can imagine myself doing. Not this. I leave this to the professionals. We are not the professionals; however, we the audience can decide what popular music is. We should demand that the professionals produce art, as opposed to formulaic, manufactured, mass-produced dross. Idiot Songs is the former. ——Harmless Noise, August 2013:Having loved and lived the tracks of the Dostoyevsky-inspiredIdiot Songs of Justin Grounds and Pearse McGloughlin for the last month, when it came to picking an Irish selection for the August round of the Music Alliance Pact, it was the one contender I truly wanted to give a global push. You may have already heard Nastasya’s Tears and seen the video for Villages Of Ether, and now this month there’s a free download of Jung Trickster. If you enjoy it, be sure to visit Bandcamp to hear theIdiot Songs album in full, and click the preceding links for more of my thoughts.Harry Guerin, RTE TEN:This is what Sligo heartstring-puller Pearse McGloughlin and English ‘electronicist’ Justin Grounds got up to last winter, a transatlantic (one here, the other Canada) tag-team project inspired by Dostoevsky’s The Idiot.If the arts branch of the Kremlin hands out gongs for avoiding pomposity against all odds then they each deserve one for the mantelpiece.It’s a listen-by-candlelight record that doesn’t outstay its welcome and is more accessible than the concept suggests. Lovers of singer-songwriter fragility and low-key electronics are likely to be satisfied as the wick burns down.In a world of perfect tie-ins, Idiot Songs would come bundled with the book: McGloughlin and Grounds’ big achievement here is to make you hungry to read or re-read it after listening.--Goldenplec, Jonathon Klein:Idiot Songs’ is an intriguing concept album composed and performed by Pearse McGloughlin and Justin Grounds. The album is inspired by the writings of Russian author Dostoevsky, and especially his book The Idiot. The group have labelled their unique sound as ‘electronic chamber music,’ and this crazy description of their sound should be enough to send your curiosity into overload. With a tag like that, ‘Idiot Songs’ is worth a listen just to see what exactly electronic chamber music is.The Courage of The Truth opens with a solo fiddle motif, and the airy melody is an achingly beautiful piece of musicianship. An autoharp begins, and eventually delicate vocals join the fiddle into making this an enticing and teasing beginning to the album, the sort that leaves you yearning for more. Electronic beats make an appearance on Natasya’s Tears, and the rich, expressive vocal performance, coupled with the violin accompaniment, make this track the most exceptional on the record. The chorus is sung sincerely, and is moving to the point of being heart-wrenching. The unorthodox combination of electronic beats with a gentle guitar and violin accompaniment culminate in making this a strange and startling listen.The album does not quite reach the breath-taking highs of Natasya’s Tears again, but there are tracks that come close to provoking the same emotional reaction. Villages of Ether is almost post-rock in style, with the uplifting piano part juxtaposed with the sinister violin section. Jung Trickster is another track that showcases the duo’s ability to create a wonderfully catchy chorus using the simplest arrangements. In this track, the outstanding vocals are accompanied by a simple beat and a few subtle effects. Once more the violin adds an extra dimension that contributes to the striking atmosphere that the whole album generates. The stark and minimalist pieces allow the heartfelt vocals to tell a story all of their own. The album closes with Epilogue (Myshkin Tree), and this short piece provides the function of a dramatic full stop for the work, with the violin’s strong presence ending the album as it began; in a blaze of bewildering glory.‘Idiot Songs’ is a powerful and expressive work of art, and at just over half an hour long, does not overstay its welcome. Combining electronic percussion with more traditional instruments, ‘electronic chamber music’ could not be a more accurate description of the unique and frankly bizarre use of instruments that features throughout ‘Idiot Songs’.