Brecon Indie Reviews Consulting Team
Band: Counter Intelligence
Genre Transversal Rock, their own term
From: Dublin, Ireland
Song: “Pounded”
Album: Debut Album “Adapt and Evolve”
The Band
Counter Intelligence is half Irish and half Italian. The Band Members and accompanying cool nicknames are:
Major: Lead vocals and acoustic guitar
Mountain: Drums, backing vocals & Production
Phantasm: Bass guitar, backing vocals
Zar: Electric and acoustic guitar, backing vocals
The Band’s Beginning
They first got together in early 2017 when fellow Italians Major and Zar started working on preexisting material and shortly after, were joined by Irish cousins.
Tour de Force
Mountain and Phantasm who helped gel the group into the musical tour de force they are today.
Rehearsals
With songs coming randomly from the Ether, they Pump out tune after tune in Rehearsals with great alacrity.
Spy Novels
Major, the lead singer, has always been a fan of spy novels and movies therefore the name Counter Intelligence seemed the most fitting.
Transversal Rock
They started working on their first album in the spring of 2017 and quickly developed quite an organic approach to the songwriting process that later inspired them to coin their own genre -Transversal Rock.
Vast Influences
This Song ‘Pounded’ is the first Single from their Debut album ‘Adapt and Evolve’. The Band holds influences ranging from Rock, Metal, Ska, Punk, Electro and even to Pop, They are Inspired by everything they have ever heard collectively.
Best 70s Bands
The Band loves to harmonize voices and Instruments, with a nod to those influences, standing on the shoulders of Musical Greats Like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, TOOL, NIN, Radiohead and many many others.
Live Shows in Dublin
In May 2019 their debut album, ADAPT AND EVOLVE, was released on all major platforms. They backed it with a number of live shows in various venues across Dublin.
The Second Album
This year they started to work on their second album with a more careful approach to melodies, vocal harmonies and production and fans can be sure to hear New Singles from said Album in early 2021.
Extreme Sports
Apart from their passion for Music and Audio Production they also share a love for extreme sports like Surfing, Skating, Rock climbing and outdoor pursuits.
Desire Live Shows
The Band can’t wait to return to their energetic live performance. They see a priceless connection between band and audience during live Shows.
Review 1, written by Drew Jarvie of Delerium Trees
Counter Intelligence – Pounded
Counter Intelligence show how to adapt different genres in this reggae rhythm influenced
song. Pounded mixes a collage of musical colours ranging from The Mighty Bostonians to
The Specials to Men At Work.
The song starts with a solo guitar, the bass, an octave lower, vocals and gently struck hi
hats/cymbals all join in quickly. Gradually the snare drum enters playing fast crotchets giving the impression of hurrying. Suddenly this pace ends with the introduction of power chords leading to a different style.
‘You should know better than that, this is how it all got started’.
The opening vocal to chorus shows the vocalist singing the melody above the band playing in a more ‘dub reggae’ style with its instinctive bass rhythms. However, the power chord feature has now become a leitmotif, a recurring musical theme, which in Pounded signals the break between the song’s ideas.
One of the most interesting ideas in this song is the use of the backing vocals, singing in
harmony, the two different textures of the voices enhance the tension in the song. Even better is use of a female backing vocalist to sing plaintive minims, giving the music an otherworldly feel, fans of The Specials with their song Ghost Town will recognise this technique.
As the bass and drums continue with similar rhythms the guitar dominates the middle section with a brilliant solo.
‘This is where I draw the line, from another line’
The final section of the song sees the return of the pounding, almost mimicking the songs
title, crotchet driven drums, ending with the power chord leitmotif. A superb song brilliantly played and with tension filled vocals. Magnificent!
Drew Jarvie – The Delerium Trees/AMJ Music
Review 2, written by Mary Wood of Brecon Indie Reviews Team
Counterintelligence are dynamic sound busters who like to jump up the pace, then pull it down to a yummy stretch for the chorus. Pounded is a fly Song, indeed!
I hear a 70s, mostly Brit, Rock Foundation with the tude of those bad ass Musicians, who still own Rock. Had a taste of 80s Rock, as well, nice! The score, theme, Vocal delivery, nodding the chorus especially, all tidbits of Floyd, Zep, The Who, Stones and more; yet, these dudes add their own very distinctive sounds that plate their Music for the current palate.
Roping techno, almost as icing a top, results in a righteous shock a like afrayed electrical wire. That which is brilliant about it is the delivery gives a buzz not a kill. Songwriting is confident and bodacious; chasing whatever wished in the wind and writing it down, dealing with the looseness of it later and never falling into the pack mentality of the safe rhyme game. A very entertaining Band that owns, with no payments due the skill bank, densely layered talent. One of our Brecon Indie Team Consultants, the prolific Drew Jarvie of Delerium Trees, has written a grand Review that delves into the technique better than I can!
Brecon Indie Reviews @BreconIReviews Maryxxxx
Brecon Indie Reviews Consulting Team
To this Counter Intelligence (Review):
the songs can be heard on Radio in JØRG’S WORLD in the week from 16.12. – 20.12.2020
