STACK #137 Mar 2016

MUSIC REVIEWS

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Emmy The Great Second Love Emmy the Great has a traveller's instinct for exploration and a storyteller's sense of detail. She initially intended her third album to be a collection of songs about technology and the future, but they shifted form and focus as Emmy moved from London to LA to New York to Tokyo and beyond. There were different jobs, including as a cultural chronicler for Guardian and Vice . And there were new friendships and experiences that found a way into Emmy's songs of connectedness, transience and transformation. Her lyrical craft is matched by musical strengths: a vast physical and imaginative journey is reflected in R&B rhythms, synths and vocal samples, and personal field recordings. (Bella Union/Mushroom) SimonWinkler

Cub Sport This Is Our Vice

They started life as Cub Scouts, but were forced to change their name after some legal issues with Scouts Australia. But this Brisbane band has put all those dramas behind them to deliver a sparkling debut album. “I’m on fire,” singer Tim Nelson declares; “don’t put me out.” There are some obvious ’80s influences, but this is no nostalgia trip. With producer John Castle, Cub Sport have crafted a clever collection of shimmering indie pop, with grand choruses and classy hooks. “Heading into the sun,” Nelson sings at the start of the album. Indeed. Their future is bright.

Matt Corby Telluric It’s finally here. Few Australian artists have been as successful or as experienced as Matt Corby before releasing their debut album. Reality singing shows love to use the word 'journey', and Corby has certainly been on a journey since we first got to know him via Australian Idol in 2007. Since then, he’s released no fewer than five EPs and

taken home two trophies for Song of the Year at the ARIA Awards. But the intriguingly titled Telluric (apparently it means “of the earth”) comes nearly three years after Corby’s last EP. Word is he shelved one album recorded in America, before recording in Paris and then Berry in NSW. “I was never lost,” he states in first single, Monday . “I only chose to never go home.” Corby ended up completing the album with producer Dann Hume, the inventive youngest brother from Kiwi band Evermore. Fiercely independent, Corby is blazing his own trail. “You go your way,” he sings in Good To Be Alone , “I’ll go mine.” Telluric contains no obvious pop hits; this is an album to immerse yourself in, with Corby creating an irresistible feel. It’s a journey, if you like. And Corby’s passionate fans will enjoy the trip. (Universal) Jeff Jenkins

(Cub Sport) Jeff Jenkins

MUSIC

Black Mountain IV Can you give an album a five-star review after only four seconds listening to it? Yes, if it’s Black Mountain. Six years since the Sabbath-infused Wilderness Heart , the Canadian space Vikings return with an album of further cosmic medieval joy. After the epic slow burn of Mothers of the Sun we crash into the power (crackle and...) pop of Florian Saucer Attack . An instant smile creator, it’s then a tidal wave of Floyd/ Hawkwind proportion with Defector – synths and space, folks, oh yeah! Not high enough for you? Try Constellations ; it’s as if Endless Boogie and Led Zeppelin just bought a cowbell and bashed the sh-t out of it all the way to Saturn. Just buy this, okay. (Inertia) Chris Murray

Luka Bloom Frugalisto Irish singer/songwriter Luka Bloom loves Australia, and on the eve of his current Australia tour – his 12th since 1992 – he’s announced that it’s here that his new album will premiere. Bloom’s songs are as authentic as folk music gets, in that he writes about real people. The title song was inspired by a group of his Irish neighbours: surfers and activists who promote sustainable living. Others include his tribute to soldiers who died in World War One, the story of an Irishman who returns home after forty years, and there’s an instrumental lullaby and sentimental ballad called Australia . (Planet/MGM) Billy Pinnell

Palehound Dry Food Her name is Ellen Kempner and her best friends are guitar pedals – and that's counting the guys playing bass and drums. Such is the dome of introspection the Boston debutante weaves on this lo-fi rock purging of pet peeves and self-loathing. Molly disses some selfish foil for openers; the sweet meander of Healthier Folk is a moody gaze into the medicine cabinet mirror and Easy wallows through heavy fuzz and hung-over resentment. Cinnamon is more sprightly but the melancholy nylon strings of Dixie cut closest to this hound's bones. Luckily her parents, sister and dogs turn up on the coach in Sea Konk , so you know she'll bounce back OK. (Heavenly/Liberator) Michael Dwyer

Bibio A Mineral Love Memories – real and imagined – fascinate Bibio. He's spent years exploring and inventing them, creating a catalogue of songs that seem to have a pre-existing history already embedded in their DNA. They're there in his early detuned, tape-worn, psychedelic instrumentals, and they've remained a constant in his evolving sonic palette. A Mineral Love features collaborations with like-minded friends such as Gotye, and draws inspiration from pop orchestrations of the '60s, hazy soul from the '70s, mutated disco funk from the '80s and more recent synthesised sounds. They combine to create a very personal celebration of record making and record collecting. There are no samples, but each of the songs

conveys a timeless quality. (Warp/Inertia) SimonWinkler

MARCH 2016

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