Crossing the River

Death
Grand Salvo
Spunk, 2008
4.5 stars

Death, in my best interpretation, is the story of a doomed inter-species love triangle, featuring a bear, a bird, a rabbit, a rat and a man. It may look stupid on paper, but in the hands of Grand Salvo, Melbourne's Paddy Mann, it makes for a truly touching fable, and a unique and stunning album. Mann has assembled a strong cast of friends and family to breath life into his imaginings, including Zoe Randell on supporting vocals (album highlight I Am Dead is on par with the best tracks on Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's The Letting Go for great female accompaniment) and dad Spencer (thank you anonymous reader) narrating the changes in season. The orchestration is rich, cinematic and, if you let it, will put you right there in the forest with the creatures. I haven't enjoyed storytelling this much since the ABC stopped airing Tales From Fat Tulip's Garden in the eighties - who needs a TV anyway when you've got an active imagination.

Artwork: A

Published in mX, Thursday March 20, 2008

Drought Broken

A Head Full Of Rain & A Heart Full Of Puddles
Clinkerfield
Waste Management, 2008
3.5 stars

Starting an album off with the sound of rain on a tin roof is a great trick - who doesn't love it. Thankfully though, with their first proper full-length Melbourne's Clinkerfield are able to follow it up with a set of great modern hillbilly rock tracks. This is the sound of a heartbroken cityslicker singing to himself as he cries into his whiskey - ramshackle instrumentation swirls and heaves around Jimmy Stewart's growling vocals, moving between softer waltzy numbers and all-out pirate rockers with ease. This album sounds like the part of central Victoria where it was recorded - rough and rugged, but still just a car drive away from the big smoke and it's influences, good and bad.

Artwork: B+

Published in mX, Thursday March 13 2008

Autumn Tales

Eden Land
Laura Jean
V2, 2008
4.5 stars

The tag 'concept album' can often act as a flashing sign reading 'caution: artist on an ego-trip', but fear not, this is not that kind of concept album. Folk music, by its nature, is the telling of stories, and Eden Land, the second long-player from Melbourne's Laura Jean, is no different. The title symbolically refers to recent changes in Jean's own personal circumstance - it's a kind of 'coming of age' tale, and the nine tracks that make up this album paint it in beautiful, bittersweet, autumnal strokes. Some concept albums fall apart when individual tracks are picked out, but every song on this album stands up on its own, from the stunning ethereal opener to the rich, upbeat Lady of the Lake and beyond. Jean's voice is her main weapon - perfectly controlled, at times reminiscent of Katie Noonan - but the accompaniment of her Eden Land Band is what makes this album flow so freely. If this is a break-up album, Laura Jean's ex must be crying bucketloads right about now.

Artwork: A

Published in mX, Thursday March 6, 2008

I Hear Cash Registers

Jonas Brothers
Jonas Brothers
Hollywood, 2008
0 stars

References to The Ramones and Hanson should never, ever appear in the same sentence. Yet that's how allmusic.com describes the Jonas Brothers, a Clearasil ad come to life in the form of a kiddie-pop band. In a perfect world, this kind of music wouldn't even make it onto a compact disc - it should live out its short life as a polyphinic ringtone on a nine-year-old girl's mobile phone. It's the stuff you mute when it soils your television screen on a groggy Sunday morning - I usually avoid Video Hits for this reason alone. Allmusic have it partly right though, because Hanson are the most obvious comparison to these siblings. If you have kids, or a neice, but have no interest in educating them in real music, this is probably appropriate.

Artwork: F

Published in mX, Thursday March 7, 2008