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M. Ward
More Rain
Rain sounds especially comforting
on the roof of a stone belltower
when you’re lying on a bed of
straw. Now that he has our
attention, M. Ward lets his
scrabbly acoustic guitar and lived-
in croak bounce around the walls,
peeling off long, ringing harmonics
in
Pirate Dial
, the phantom folk
opener of his eighth solo album.
The serial collaborator from
Portland (She & Him, Monsters
of Folk, Mavis Staples), cranks up
the tempo on the soft-shoe T-Rex
blues of
Time Won't Wait Up
and
chiming pop tunes like
Confession
and
Temptation
, but the default
rainy day vibe is as close as the
hushed "doo-wop sha-la-la-las"
of
Little Baby
and the spiralling
echoes of
Slow Driving Man
. Peter
Buck, Neko Case and kd lang take
refuge in turn, but never steal their
host's muted thunder.
(Bella Union) Michael Dwyer
Halfway
The Golden
Halfway Record
Brisbane’s Halfway went to
Nashville to make their fifth
album, but it remains distinctly
Australian, “a note written in the
sand, regards from Queensland.”
This is more Australiana than
Americana. If Jeff Tweedy grew
up in Rockhampton, he’d sound
something like John Busby. This
is intelligent, rootsy pop. “And
we won’t dumb it down again,”
they declare in
East
. Standout
cut
Bret Canham’s Leather
Jacket
celebrates a misfit, an
outcast in a small town who
defiantly does things his own
way. And that’s pretty much
Halfway’s story. They might not
be fashionable, but they stand
out for all the right reasons:
they’re master craftsmen.
(ABC) Jeff Jenkins
Jeff Buckley
You And I
Buckley's small catalogue (two
EPs, one album) inflates again with
another posthumous release: 10
songs from pre-
Grace
sessions
as producer Steve Addabbo tried
to ascertain what Buckley was
capable of. Here Buckley does
Dylan (an overwrought
Just
Like a Woman
), Sly Stone badly
(
Everyday People
), the Smiths
(
Boy With a Thorn in His Side
and
I Know It's Over
), Led Zepp
(their unexceptional
Night Flight
)
and Bukka White (
Poor Boy Long
Way From Home
). There's an
urgent run-through of
Grace
and
the unfinished
Dream of You And
I
– which became
You And I
on
the posthumous
Sketches for My
Sweetheart The Drunk
. Nothing
diminishes his reputation, little
enhances it.
(Sony) Graham Reid
The Last Shadow Puppets
Everything You've Come To Expect
Small point of order: It's not actually a supergroup
when only one guy is anybody. But the presence
of Arctic Monkey-chief Alex Turner made The Last
Shadow Puppets a major British indie event even
before his 2007 debut with Miles Kane (The Rascals,
apparently) and James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco,
for heaven's sake) turned out to be so damn good. They almost blow it on
the follow-up, long delayed due to escalating Monkey business, with an
opening track that jangles and sneers in the generic northern indie mould
of The Verve/ Charlatans et al.
Miracle Aligner
is where
Everything You've
Come To Expect
suddenly lives up to its title as a rapturous, ascending
melody rides the luscious '60s pop melodrama that was the Puppets'
original calling card.
Dracula Teeth
is James Bond meets Shaft, with the
crucial strings of Owen Pallet properly unleashed. The panic of
Bad Habits
breaks the swooning spell at the midway point but the Orbison-esque
Bolero of
Sweet Dreams, TN
snaps back on track like a good whack to the
side of a black-and-white telly and John Lennon's ghost makes
The Dream
Synopsis
the finale worth hanging around for. "Is it boring when I talk about
my dreams?" Not when you invite the string section to breakfast, darling.
(Domino) Michael Dwyer
visit
stack.net.auMUSIC
REVIEWS
16
jbhifi.com.auAPRIL
2016
MUSIC
The Weeping Willows
Before Darkness Comes
A-Callin'
The Weeping Willows’ second
album is aptly titled – there’s
a sense of impending doom.
“Better run and hide,” Laura
Coates declares at the start of
opening cut,
Devil’s Road
. And
while most of the titles contain a
negative connotation –
Fallen Ring
,
Valley of Darkness
,
Forgotten
Flowers
,
Garden of Tears
,
When
The Sun Came Down
– the result
is delightful. It’s a joy hearing
Coates and partner Andrew
Wrigglesworth sing together.
He possesses an ominous tone,
while she brings a sense of
intimacy. They’re like a Melbourne
version of Gillian Welch and David
Rawlings, and the playing is
exquisite.
(MGM) Jeff Jenkins
Pity Sex
White Hot Moon
Pity Sex’s
White Hot Moon
has
unexpectedly become one of
the most surprising albums of
2016 so far. The band boasts
two impressive songwriting
talents in Britty Drake and Sean
St Charles who are not afraid
to go head to head in their
approach to Pity Sex’s emotional
sound. The follow up to 2013’s
excellent debut
Feast Of Love
is
everything we were anticipating
and more. Moody and morose in
all the right places and unhinged
and passionate in its lyricism,
it’s the perfect soundtrack to the
disappearing of the sun.
(Run For Cover/CookingVinyl)
Emily Kelly
The Goon Sax
Up To Anything
One of Robert Forster’s 10 Rules
of Rock: The three-piece band is
the purest form of rock and roll
expression. Brisbane trio The
Goon Sax features Forster’s son,
Louis, who shares the vocals
with James Harrison. Their debut
is an album of adolescent angst
and indifference. “I don’t care
about much,” the singer declares
in
Sometimes Accidentally
, “but
I definitely sometimes care
about you.” These are everyday
observations, but they’re sharp,
playful and charming: “Home
haircuts, do they ever go right?”
“Ice-cream’s pretty nice, but it
isn’t paradise.” “Why don’t you
look at me the way I look at you?”
File next to Courtney Barnett.
(Chapter Music) Jeff Jenkins