STACK #167 Sept 2018

MUSIC REVIEWS

visit stack.com.au

Cash Savage and the Last Drinks Good Citizens As a band leader Cash Savage is unparalleled – when she bellows you stand to attention and listen. The band have important things to say on Good Citizens , with opening track Better Than That a response to the marriage equality plebiscite. Savage is still hurting and this hurt can be heard across the album as she grapples with the injustices of the world. Savage also shows her softer side on the more personal February and Sunday, both tracks rich in romantic sentiment. In the midst of a world in crisis there’s often little to be optimistic about, but with music this victorious, it feels as though there might be something to be hopeful about after all. (Mistletone/Inertia) Holly Pereira

Anna Calvi Hunter Anna Calvi is a master of

songwriting: her two previous albums were both nominated for the Mercury music prize. The London artist – who's toured with Nick Cave and collaborated with David Byrne – is also known for her stagecraft: "I try to look people in the eye when I sing". It's an arresting image, this charged moment of connection between performer on stage and her audience. You can feel that same electricity here. Calvi has stated "the intent of this record is to be primal and beautiful, vulnerable and strong, to be the hunter and the hunted." It's all rendered in the dramatic builds and quiet spaces of these songs. Our instinctive, fluid selves, fixed for an instant in the crosshairs. (Domino/EMI) SimonWinkler

Tkay Maidza Last Year Was Weird Vol. 1 EP

With the exception of the rebellious, sass- inducing Flexin’ (featuring DUCKWRTH), Last Year Was Weird Vol. 1 is a tempo change from South Australian Tkay Maidza’s last release, her critically acclaimed self-titled debut album. It’s a brave move, and a sign of the Maidza evolving and

maturing as an artist, considering her penchant for releasing dancehall/hip hop bangers. White Rose slinks along with a neo-soul filter draped over Tkay’s snarling flow, Lullabies is a reflective escape plan, and closing track Say It wouldn’t be out of place on Kanye’s The Life Of Pablo . “Hate getting older, love growing up,” Maidza sings on stand-out Growing Up . (With that sentiment, it’s hard to comprehend that she's still only 21.) “When you stop making excuses and start making changes, realise others will always try taking advantage,” she continues. Tkay is only listening to herself now, and finally becoming the artist she wants to be, free of expectation. Last Year Was Weird Vol.1 is a liberating experience; here’s to Vol. 2 . (Dew Process/UMA)Tim Lambert

The Kooks Let's Go Sunshine English indie rock giants The Kooks are now five albums into their career. It’s apparent from the explosive track Kids just how much they’ve evolved, their sound all the more powerful and anthemic. It’s easy to forget the band first emerged 14 years ago given how fresh they sound, with Luke Pritchard’s voice reporting as youthful as ever. They’ve also retained their ear for a catchy hook, as evidenced on tracks All The Time , Pamela and No Pressure . While part of their appeal lies in the nostalgia conjured when you listen, on Let’s Go Sunshine The Kooks have proven that they’re still a vital act. (Lonely Cat/AWAL) Holly Pereira

The Goon Sax We're Not Talking

Spiritualized And Nothing Hurt Calling a record And Nothing Hurt and opening it with a pastoral psych-folk romp might suggest Jason Pierce was going gently into that good night. A Perfect Miracle twirls into I’mYour Man and it’s all perfectly pretty, but just as you’re reading that this was all recorded in a room in Pierce’s house and fearing it’ll all be this quiet, a groove finally appears on track three. And from there, And Nothing Hurt hypnotises: the entrancing climb of Let’s Dance , the frantic chaos of On The Sunshine , the alluring sway of Damaged , and so on, so on, so on. The Spaceman’s alleged last album (at least under this pseudonym) goes out with a bang after all. (Bella Union/Inertia) Jake Cleland

Low Double Negative

Now in their twenties, The Goon Sax’ malaise has settled in, and with that the acceptance that things don’t really pick up in adulthood. Like most post-adolescents, they're full of contradictions – on Make Time 4 Love Louis Forster sings of the importance of doing just that, while James Harrison laments on She Knows “I never knew what love meant and I still don’t.” Synths make a welcome appearance on Losing Myself , a sweet yet downbeat duet between Harrison and drummer Riley Jones. Despite living lives full of uncertainties, the band possess a remarkable assuredness. We’re Not Talking is further proof of the trio’s genius, and serves to show just how much they’ve grown as musicians. (Chapter/Secretly Canadian/ Inertia) Holly Pereira

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. The latest Low album arrives after two years of dedicated work. Songs were carefully assembled, broken and remade with producer BJ Burton until every piece was in place. In other words, business as usual for a band who've spent a quarter century patiently pioneering new modes in music. Double Negative carries this momentum, offering perhaps the band's most powerful and resonant record to date: an abrasive, disquieting and beautiful album for fractured times in need of healing. (Sub Pop/Inertia) SimonWinkler

052

SEPTEMBER 2018

jbhifi.com.au