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Tinpan Orange
Love Is A Dog
Tinpan Orange’s fifth album is
filled with water references. Emily
Lubitz sings of rivers and rafts,
sailing and the sea, and there’s
a dark undercurrent with her
ethereal voice slowly dragging you
under. “The world has gone crazy,”
she purrs in
Fools and Cowboys
.
“Don’t do the things that I have
regretted.” Lubitz is ably backed by
her guitarist brother Jesse. Indeed,
this is a family affair – the album
is beautifully produced by Lubitz’s
husband, The Cat Empire’s Harry
Angus, who also has a hand in the
songwriting. The result is dreamy
folk. It lilts and it lingers, providing
light across the water.
(Independent) Jeff Jenkins
Sturgill Simpson
A Sailor's Guide To Earth
Sturgill Simpson woke up
Nashville with his highly acclaimed
second album
Metamodern
Sounds In Country Music
(2014).
This is his much anticipated
follow-up. Described as the “new
wave” of country, Simpson has
written a concept album in a song
cycle as a letter to his young son.
Self-produced, the release offers
eight original songs of parental
advice plus an open-hearted cover
of Nirvana’s
In Bloom
. This is
country Simpson’s way, dripping
in twangin’ pedal steel, '60s
countrypolitan strings, vintage soul
and funk horns courtesy of The
Dap Kings, and distinctive country
drawl. Outlaw country of our time.
(
Atlantic Records/Warner)
Denise Hylands
Sahara Beck
Panacea
She might fade in on a breeze of girly la-las but
when Sahara Beck says
Here It Comes
, you better
watch out. Her slow-building half-whisper of
anticipation hits its peak at the three-minute mark
with a thrashing riposte to Pink Floyd's
Great Gig
In The Sky
: all rock-operatic howls and washes
of synth/guitar freak-out. The wham-bam-glam opener segues into a
percussive snapshot of some street nutter dancing to his own drum,
who turns out to be her baby. That's him again in
Spinning Time
: another
outsider who wears his madness like a badge. It figures. On her second
album, the Darwin singer-songwriter endorses her claim to the eccentric
prodigy lineage that links Kate Bush to Cyndi Lauper to Kate Miller-Heidke.
Her voice is too elastic to play normal and her imagination swings like a
gate from the street corner one-man-band oom-pah of
Crack Bang Bang
to the sultry western twang of
I'm In Love
; from the sleepy-time Andrews
Sisters chorus of
Everybody Wants Noise
to the melodramatic mini-
symphony of
Mother Mother
and a waltzing warm bath finale in
Don't
Hold Your Breath
. Phew. She warned us it was coming.
(Create/Control) Michael Dwyer
visit
stack.net.auMUSIC
REVIEWS
14
jbhifi.com.auMAY
2016
MUSIC
Highasakite
Camp Echo
The 'echo' aspect of this award-
winning five-piece's third album
resonates throughout the entire
disc; its tribal cry flows out of
the popping synths on opener
My Name Is Liar
, and continues
through the lyrics as a gleeful
reminder that “hey, we just said
this, please listen again.” And
unsurprisingly, the release is highly
worthy of a second spin. One can’t
help but pick up an Ellie Goulding-
esque vibe, and it’s certainly
feasible that the Norweigan group
had her
On [Their] Mind
s during
production.
Golden Ticket
is as
upbeat as it is contemplative,
and
Someone Who’ll Get It
has
endured its fair share of radio play
and come out still palatable, which
is more than can be said for most.
(Caroline) Alesha Kolbe
Hayes Carll
Lovers And Leavers
Texas singer-songwriter Hayes
Carll has built a reputation as a
larrikin whose stories are filled
with mischievous humour. But
on his first album in five years
the good time yarns, the laughs,
the hoots and the hollers of
his previous records are gone.
Lovers And Leavers
finds
him expressing his personal,
heartfelt confessions of old
love, new love and life changes
that have transpired. Produced
by Joe Henry (Emmylou Harris,
Elvis Costello), Carll’s stripped-
back country folk sound and
storytelling show signs of
maturity that highlight the true
talent of this first-rate songwriter.
(ThirtyTigers/CookingVinyl)
Denise Hylands
Sweet Jean
Monday to Friday
Sweet Jean’s debut album,
Dear
Departure
, was good.
Monday
To Friday
is great. The interplay
between Alice Keath and Sime
Nugent is exquisite. Keath’s voice
floats, but don’t be deceived –
there’s a potent edge to these
songs. “It’s not a grin,” Keath
sings in
Main Street
, “these are
my teeth.”
Still Here
drips with
heartbreak and -ache, but there’s
a sense of humour on show in
NYD
. “I don’t want to leave alone,”
Keath declares, “but there’s no
one at this party that I want to
take home.” And to round it all
off, the album concludes with a
delightfully downbeat cover of
Womack &Womack’s
Teardrops
.
(ABC/Universal) Jeff Jenkins
Wild Belle
Dreamland
Jamaica and Wild Belle seem to
have cancelled each other out on
the Chicago duo's second album.
Reggae rhythms, bone-dry sax
and other earthy elements were
upfront and funky on the likes
of
Keep You
and
Another Girl
on
their 2013 debut,
Isles
. Despite
this year's exotic recording pit
stop, the destination is more
detached and atmospheric
as Natalie Bergman prowls
the sultry soundscapes of her
brother Elliot like a sleepwalking
diva. The sax is back on the
single
Throw Down Your Guns,
and the rhythmic lurches of
Cannonball
and
The One That
Got Away
throw timely spanners
into a smoothly-programmed
machine.
(Columbia) Michael Dwyer