STACK June 2016 Issue 140

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Emma Russack
In A New State
So this is what it sounds like in
Emma Russack's head. Thrilling
possibilities. Crippling doubts.
Fresh starts. Lingering regrets.
Fears of abandonment, real
and imagined. It's an intimate
panorama the Melbourne
singer-songwriter chooses to
share, daydreaming on her back
in Cottesloe and spiralling into
fraught memories in Narooma
and Best Love . Aloneness is a
recurring theme between My
Own Friend and Not The Friend,
but it's not always as bleak as it
sounds as inner strength wells
from self-knowledge. At least she
has Beaches producer John Lee
to wrap his deep, warm reverb
around her simple guitar lines,
slow drums and vague burbles of
electro interference.
(Spunk) Michael Dwyer
Mick Harvey
Delirium Tremens
In his seemingly never-ending
crusade to interpret all of Serge
Gainsbourg’s canon into the
Queen’s English, the multi-talented
former Bad Seed adequately
suffices. Nice album title, amazing
orchestration and production
values aside; this third installment
(the amazing Intoxicated Man and
a slightly lesser Pink Elephants,
the prior two) is more a novelty
than a stand-alone album to
savour and enjoy. Perhaps it’s
the polish and ‘straight’ angle at
interpretation, or it may just be
that the ‘best’ of our departed
Lothario’s catalogue is exhausted.
No matter, it’s still better than
anything Mumford & Sons have
on offer.
(Mute/Create/Control)
Chris Murray
wans
e Glowing Man
Francis Bacon needed inspiration to enter even
rker territory when putting oil to canvas, he’d
ve Swans at ear-bleeding levels.
is isn’t an album, it’s a séance, as you’ll no
ubt experience in all 25 minutes of Cloud of
Unknowing. The wolves of doom are breathing
at your hind and you're engulfed in an erotically moreish, cinematic and
intoxicating tunnel of desire. Then there’s the broken cabaret that is The
World Looks Red/The World Looks Black, a leaning tower of blackened
glass descending upon the cranium. Folks, let’s be honest: every now and
then you desire a definitive soundtrack to the end of days, focusing on
your own. Look no further. It’ll challenge your projected sanity and envelop
your soul, as all good music should. It’s not for squares, nor the faint of
heart – it’s instead genetically designed for warriors atop skeletal steeds
on a mission to bizarrely divulge secrets and fears. F-cking incredible. Run,
don’t walk, to the nearest store and purchase immediately as a matter of
urgency most vital.
(Mute/Create/Control) Chris Murray
visit MUSIC REVIEWS
16 MAY 2016
USIC
The Screaming Jets
Chrome
They don’t make ’em like this
anymore – The Screaming Jets
are one of the last great pub rock
bands. “We got the scars,” Dave
Gleeson sings on the band’s
seventh studio album and first in
eight years, “but they don’t always
show.” Reunited with producer
Steve James – who helmed
the band’s first two records at
the start of the ’90s – the Jets
sound refreshed and renewed,
showcasing bass player Paul
Woseen’s sharp songwriting, the
twin guitar attack of Jimi Hocking
and Scott Kingman, and Gleeson’s
eternally youthful Aussie larrikin
vocals (check out Smack In The
Mouth). Some say that rock is no
longer relevant. But you know and
I know better.
(Dinner ForWolves) Jeff Jenkins
Neko Case, k.d. lang,
Laura Veirs case/lang/veirs
Case/lang/veirs is the coming
together of three extraordinary
talents. The iconic k.d. lang
approached independently-driven
artists Neko Case and Laura Veirs
with an emailed suggestion: “I
think we should make a record
together.” Without hesitation, this
collaboration was born. Barely
knowing each other, they have
over the past few years created
this super trio, writing all the songs
together. They then bunkered
down in Portland, Oregon with
producer Tucker Martine to record
between lang’s loft and Veir’s
dining room and backyard studio.
As you would expect, this is an
extra-special offering of dazzling
harmonies and mesmerising
rhythms.
(ANTI/Warner) Denise Hylands
Mary Chapin Carpenter
The Things That We Are Made
Of
Mary Chapin Carpenter is a multi-
Grammy Award-winning country
artist who has sold over 14 million
albums in her near three decade
career. On her 14th studio album
she has employed the highly in-
demand Grammy Award-winning
producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell)
to work his magic. Cobb has
stripped back these arrangements
to reveal and highlight Carpenter’s
songwriting and singing abilities.
There have been many roads
travelled in these songs, reflecting
on the past and looking forward
to what lies ahead. Comforting,
confronting, sad and assuring, she
continues to be an outstanding
talent. (ThirtyTigers/Cooking
Vinyl) Denise Hylands
Ladyhawke
Wild Things
Ladyhawke’s third album has Kiwi
Pip Brown honing the schematics
she laid bare to the world with
her breakthrough in 2008. Newly
married and sober, Wild Things
finds Brown with less urgency,
pausing more often to find wonder
in everyday spectacle. Singles
Sweet Fascination and A Love
Song are summer jams full of
innocence, while album tracks like
Golden Girl – a Charli XCXish sneer
– and Money To Burn prove Brown
has lost none of her edge. It’s all
tied together with Ladyhawke’s
typical hallmarks: rubbery bass
lines, snappy drums, and cool
synth melodies. It’s another win
for New Zealand’s other popstar.
(EMI) Jake Cleland