STACK #183 Jan 2020

MUSIC REVIEWS

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Georgia Seeking Thrills

Algiers There Is No Year

Sarah Mary Chadwick Please Daddy The ever prolific Sarah Mary Chadwick kicks off 2020 with Please Daddy , the Melbourne via New Zealand musician’s sixth solo record. It’s immediately apparent from When Will Death Come that Chadwick’s live band play an integral role on this album, with their backing turning what would normally be a morose number into something oddly uplifting. Subsequent tracks follow suit, with the addition of flutes and trumpets further elevating Chadwick’s typically stripped, bare sound. While trauma and daily struggles filter through, the rays of light crack the surface of these songs, with Chadwick reminding those who turn to her music for comfort that hope does indeed exist.

Pinegrove Marigold New Jersey indie rock band Pinegrove are releasing their newest album Marigold – comprising 11 songs, which each have their own calming yet exciting style – this month. The album’s closer (also titled Marigold ) is six minutes of euphoria and bliss; entirely instrumental, it features incredible use of synthesiser which is complemented by harp, resulting in a very peaceful, spacious feel. Listeners will picture themselves sitting by a waterfall, totally surrounded by various kinds of plants, under a warm sun. As for the other tracks, they consist of Pinegrove’s signature style of soft strumming, simple, steady drumbeats, and smooth basslines. (RoughTrade/Remote Control) Mimi Franes

You only need to glimpse the front cover of British electronic producer Georgia Barnes’ new LP Seeking Thrills to gauge the reaction it inspires – you too will be transformed into a teenage girl with your arms in the air upon listening. The album’s appealing combination of earworm choruses, heartfelt lyrics and infectious beats hits from the opening track Started Out , and doesn’t let up. Though Barnes may have a reputation for dancefloor bangers, she isn’t afraid to mix things up, with Ultimate Sailor offering a more contemplative side. Seeking Thrills is an exhilarating ride, a collection of songs custom-made to soundtrack the moments that will define the new decade for the right reasons. (Domino) Holly Pereira

Atlanta’s heroes Algiers return with a genre-defying, career- defining fourth album. Vocalist and songwriter Franklin James Fisher is at his most focused, using his poem Misophonia as the basis for the album’s anti-capitalist lyrics. Hour of the Furnaces evokes apocalyptic imagery, while following track Losing Is Ours feels like a soothing balm to its predecessor’s burn. Chaka introduces an industrial- meets-jazz angle with a sprinkling of synth rock, before Wait For The Sound has Fisher delivering a gospel-hymn with a darker undertone. With forces beyond our control characterising these deeply troubling times, There Is No Year is an urgent and crucial statement from a band seething with intent. (Matador/Remote Control) Holly Pereira

(Rice Is Nice) Holly Pereira

Gabrielle Aplin Dear Happy Former YouTuber Gabrielle Aplin is proving herself an ambassador for the new school of lush pop; her vocals are close and warm, her arrangements are rich with twists of electronics and little pauses between heartbeats, and her themes embrace self-confidence without washing over the tough times. Kintsugi – named for the Japanese pratice of repairing broken ceramics with gold-laced lacquer, thereby making the fissures the most beautiful part of the pottery – is a delicately plucked, then pulsing slice of sunshine (“Now that I’m shattered, I’m all kinds of me… all my scars are golden,” Aplin sings). The other bona fide stand-out is the album closer and title track: Dear Happy is borne on the angles of some beautiful, Thomas Newman- esque chords, expanding into a divine soundscape of gossamer vocals. (Never Fade) ZKR

Pet Shop Boys Hotspot

Kylie Minogue Golden: Live In Concert Kylie’s Golden Tour – beautifully captured on this CD/DVD collection, her eighth live album – provided some surprises, including a cover of Blue Velvet , as well as mashing Can’t Get You Out Of My Head with Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain , and Slow with The Human League’s Being Boiled . And Especially For You was resurrected, showing what a fine pop song it is. Some Kylie fans might quibble about the set list – the “Indie Kylie” Impossible Princess album is ignored, and recent pop gem Into The Blue also didn’t make the cut. So it’s not quite the ultimate Kylie concert, but it comes close. When she tells the crowd, “You’re giving me goosebumps”, there’s no doubt the feeling is reciprocated. (BMG) Jeff Jenkins

Sunnyboys Sunnyboys 40

The urban poetry atop synth sorcery that is Hotspot – the last in a trilogy of Stuart Price-produced Pet Shop Boys albums – is gilded by Neil Tennant's unmistakeable, wistful- yet-hopeful robotic timbre. Opener Will-o-the-Wisp peacocks like the dandy described through song ("You were always such a free spirit/ A bright-eyed, eager chap/ A will-o-the-wisp/ And charming with it/ In your battered leather cap"). Downtempo, pensive new single Burning The Heather features Suede's Bernard Butler on guitar and banging closer Wedding In Berlin incorporates a wonky Mendelssohn's Wedding March – that's your munted nuptials sorted, then! Long may the kings of making us dance with hands in the air and tears in our eyes reign!

“We can lock away the bad memories together,” Jeremy Oxley sang in the classic Alone With You . “Close the doors to the past, forever.” But Sunnyboys 40 is a celebration, gathering the four songs from the band’s 1980 debut EP – including the first recording of Alone With You , as well as fan favourite The Seeker . Soon after, Sunnyboys became the first Sydney band to sign to Mushroom Records, releasing three acclaimed albums. This collection helps explain what happened next, adding four new studio recordings of songs from the Jeremy Oxley archive. They’ve actually been together just 12 of the past 40 years, but they are loved. As Ron Peno sang, “God bless the Sunnyboys.” (Feel Presents/Rocket) Jeff Jenkins

(x2 Recordings) Bryget Chrisfield

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JANUARY 2020

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