I just learned the sad news of Cathal Coughlan’s death. A formative figure in the Irish post-punk music scene. The Irish Times has an obituary. Coughlan was only 61. Quite young.
My brother Brendan was a huge fan of Coughlan’s band Fatima Mansions (named after a notorious Dublin housing project) and wrote two excellent pieces about them, the first one about the album Viva Dead Ponies.
50 Best Albums, #28. The Fatima Mansions, Viva Dead Ponies
And then this fascinating piece about the intersection of David Bowie, the Walker Brothers, and Fatima Mansions:
Bowie, Fatima Mansions & Walker Brothers: 3 Versions of Nite Flights: Original/2 Copies
I love to share my brother’s writing. Everything he writes is a tribute:
“Cathal Coughlan’s voice is an ungodly mix of rasp and velvet, brass and whisper. Nothing can be taken at face value. Almost relentlessly desperate and depressing lyrically, the music counteracts those valleys with almost maniacal heights of release.”
RIP Cathal Coughlan.
