ATO Records – August 18 2009

Since his last solo release, 2005’s The Alternative to Love, Brendan Benson has become better known as a quarter of The Raconteurs – essentially, Jack White’s right-hand man. Those who have since forgotten the wonders this man is capable of in his own right will be quickly reminded with his fourth solo outing, an album laden with infectious blues-pop hooks and wit so sharp you could prick your finger on it.

Opener ‘A Whole Lot Better’ is classic Benson, relying on the interplay of synth and jolty electric guitars to highlight the almost pathetic, but totally relatable plight of the song’s narrator – “I fell in love with you, and out of love with you, and back in love with you, all in the same day”, he sings. This kind of honesty weaves in and out of his songs, the old school swing-pop (strings and all) of ‘Garbage Day’ a particular lyrical highlight for its earnest charm (“If she throws her heart away/I’ll be there on garbage day”). The crystal clear production does a lot of favours for these songs, too – it makes the downbeat numbers (‘You Make a Fool out of Me’, ‘Lesson Learned’) that much more sincere, the more energetic cuts (‘Poised and Ready’, ‘Don’t Wanna Talk’) practically explode with liveliness.

For those new to Benson this album should serve as a good introduction, and for long term fans it shouldn’t disappoint. This man might play styles of music you’ve heard before (and he plays across a hell of a lot of styles), but he does it in a way that is unmistakably Brendan Benson.

TRACK LISTING
01. A Whole Lot Better
02. Eyes on the Horizon
03. Garbage Day
04. Gonowhere
05. Feel Like Taking You Home
06. You Made a Fool Out of Me
07. Poised and Ready
08. Don’t Wanna Talk
09. Misery
10. Lesson Learned
11. Borrow

DOWNLOAD: Garbage Day (m4a)

MGM/Sandcastle – July 10 2009

It’s funny that the first song on this album is all about writer’s block – if suffering from writer’s block culminates in something this engaging, poetic and touching, sign me up for some blockage.

On her second album, Melbourne songstress Jen Cloher has chosen a sensitive subject that everyone can relate to – the fear that overtakes a child when their mother is faced with danger (based on her own mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s) – and, with her band The Endless Sea, woven an intricate web around it that sparkles with heart and confidence. Cloher’s emotional journey is chronicled through optimism (the jolty folk-rock of ‘I Am Going But I Am Not Gone’), desperation (the utterly heartbreaking ‘It Must Come Through’) and retrospective wishing (‘Eden With My Eve’), all tied together by her steady but earnest voice.

It’s easy to get cliché when writing lyrics about such intense emotions, but Cloher manages to come across as genuine, using only simple metaphors and imagery that, when paired with the equally modest instrumentals, tell her stories in a subtly powerful way. The Endless Sea has expanded to include new instruments such as the musical saw and viola, and yet it never feels forced or pretentious – it’s just well written, well played folk rock that cuts straight to the core.

I’m struggling to find the words to describe how much I love this album, and that’s probably because Jen Cloher used her Hidden Hands to steal all the world’s beautiful words and put them into it. So don’t try to find poetry in my words – go out, get this album and drown in hers.

TRACK LISTING:
01. Mother’s Desk
02. Fear Is Like A Forest
03. I Am Going But I Am Not Gone
04. Birdsong
05. Hidden Hands
06. It Must Come Through
07. Eden With My Eve
08. Time Among The Pines
09. Watch Me Disappear

Interview for Drum Media

“I think we’re growing up in terms of our whole approach to experimentation and arrangement and whatnot,” Pyne says – and why not talk of growing up? The Paper Scissors are a young band, having only been around for five years, and already they’ve played coveted festival slots and lent their tunes to some of Australia’s biggest ad campaigns and TV shows. It’s been two years since their debut Less Talk, More Paper Scissors, and they’re back with the Howl EP and a new album in the works, planned for an early 2010 release.

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