STACK #138 Apr 2016

MUSIC REVIEWS

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The Goon Sax Up To Anything

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

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

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

MUSIC

Halfway The Golden Halfway Record Brisbane’s Halfway went to Nashville to make their fifth

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

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 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

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

APRIL 2016

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