STACK August 2016 Issue 142

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Leah Flanagan
Saudades
Leah Flanagan's second album,
a suite of songs that explore
bittersweet emotions universally
experienced in relationships,
gently announces the arrival
of a major singer-songwriter.
'Saudades', an untranslatable
Portuguese word suggesting sad
and happy feelings and borrowed
from a song written by Tin Pan
Orange singer Emily Lubitz, is
the perfect title for this album
recorded live in the studio with a
bunch of intuitive musicians who
contribute something different
to each song. The sensual Chills
with its irresistible riff, a voice and
electric guitar duet on Two Worlds,
the ominous, bluesy feel of
Damage. An outstanding release.
(Remedy) Billy Pinnell
MUSIC
Gang Of Youths
Let Me Be Clear EP
Gang of Youths’ songs are almost
perverted in how effectively they
manipulate and Let Me Be Clear
is no exception, showing an
impressive mastery in their ability
to swing sombre intimacy into
rapturous Big Moments. David
Le’aupepe’s hyperliterate lyricism
still marks him as the smartest
guy in any room as he drags
heartache/break out with gravelly,
thesaurian splendour, but Joji
Malani’s scribbly guitar lines and
Dom Borzestowski’s versatile, fluid
drumming steal the spotlight. What
does a record of cut-offs like this
say about Gang of Youths? That
their capacity to write grandiose
rock nonpareil extends beyond the
10 cuts on The Positions. That’s no
surprise for the faithful, but it’s nice
to hear the extras all the same.
(Sony) Jake Cleland
Hellions
Opera Oblivia
While their debut Die Young
announced a new force in the
Australian hardcore scene and
follow up Indian Summer cemented
their place in it, Opera Oblivia is
Sydney five-piece Hellions’ most
defining record to date. The scope
of the band's ambition can only
be measured next to their equally
enormous talent. The first single off
this record is the rousing, riff-heavy
sing-along Quality Of Life. The
album sways from empowering
resolve to dejected cynicism –
Thresher and He Without Sin i)
Halation are perfect examples of
the latter. The band have been on
a journey of self discovery and
realisation, and the resulting 10
tracks are a celebration of life:
its highs, its lows and its brutal
breakdowns.
(UNFD)Tim Lambert
Human Nature
Gimme Some Lovin': Jukebox
Vol II
You’ve got to hand it to Human
Nature – how many boy bands
continue making music, scandal-
free and with original line-up
intact? Two decades after their
debut single, Human Nature have
still got it goin’ on. Sure, they
don’t take many chances as they
continue to mine the pop hits of
the ’50s and ’60s, but it’s a crowd-
pleasing formula, with covers of
You Send Me, Be My Baby, Shout
and (Your Love Keeps Lifting
Me) Higher And Higher hitting
the mark. And the one original
song, the soulful Forgive Me
Now, shows that AndrewTierney
has lost none of his songwriting
smarts.
(Sony) Jeff Jenkins
Neil Young & Promise Of
The Real Earth
Recorded with his current backing
band that includes Willie Nelson's
sons Lukas and Mica, Earth (13
tracks over two CDs, Young's first
non-archival live album since 2000)
is a set of songs from across his
career about food awareness
that features overdubbed sounds
of animals, birds and insects.
Songs you're likely to recognise
(After The Goldrush and Human
Highway) sit comfortably with
Vampire Blues from 1974's On
The Beach and selections from
more recent albums including
2015's The Monsanto Years.
There's something admirable
about Young's commitment to
environmental issues, a common
theme of his releases this decade.
(Warner) Billy Pinnell
Bernard Fanning Civil Dusk
His solo debut, Tea & Sympathy, was a classic. His
second album, Departures, was a disappointment.
Civil Dusk finds Bernard Fanning back in top
form. Opening cut, Emerald Flame, has all the
warmth that was largely lacking in Departures. It’s
extraordinarily beautiful; one of the most exquisite
album-openers you’ll ever hear. “Who could face
this ruthless beauty?” Fanning asks. “You have shattered my defences.”
Fortunately, the rest of the record matches its magic. This is an album
about choices and consequences, filled with songs about love’s tenuous
grip, where “God is making music, the Devil is making wine” and the
singer is hoping that “only the good love survives.” Yep, no middle-aged
contentment here; Fanning’s heart remains restless. He’s trying to unravel
“all the knots and tangled ways,” wondering what it means to be a man.
“What a man wants,” he concludes, “is seldom what he needs.” More
than two decades after Powderfinger’s first release, Fanning’s voice
remains an instrument of beauty, capable of conveying words that hit you
right in the heart, “a bleak and brutal sadness nobody could contrive.”
Place Civil Dusk alongside classics by Jackson Browne and Cat Stevens.
It’s one of the year’s best. (Dew Process/Universal) Jeff Jenkins
visit MUSIC REVIEWS
20 AUGUST 2016
Alex Lloyd
Acoustica
It’s beautiful, but do we really
need another cover of Leonard
Cohen’s Hallelujah ? That’s the
only misfire on Alex Lloyd’s new
album, which heralds the return
of Liberation’s acoustic series.
Lloyd is a quality songwriter and
his tracks shine in this stripped-
back format. Opening with an
intricate but intimate version of
Amazing , he has reinvented his
hits with clever arrangements –
check out the Beatlesque strings
in Coming Home. With titles such
as Amazing, Never Meant To
Fail , Green and Beautiful , this is
essentially an acoustic Best Of.
Of Lloyd’s six albums, only 2008’s
Good In The Face Of A Stranger
goes unrepresented.
(Liberation) Jeff Jenkins