STACK #198 Apr 2021

REVIEWS MUSIC

Bob Evans Tomorrowland

Dry Cleaning New Long Leg

The Offspring Let The Bad Times Roll These Californian punk stalwarts – with an almost 40 year-long career – find themselves in a sticky spot. How do you make your social criticism feel relevant, especially when most of your latest album was finished before a) COVID and b) the end of the latest US Presidency? Under those circumstances, Let The Bad Times Roll is a hard-hitting statement about lowering your expectations for change. Having seen half a century of regime change and social movements, The Offspring deliver a blistering indictment that if anything’s going to get better, it’s not by any one cause. (Concord Records) Jake Cleland

Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis She Walks In Beauty Inspired in part by the high school teacher who introduced Marianne Faithfull to the English Romantics, She Walks In Beauty is as much a love letter to its form as its poems’ subjects. Faithfull’s textured voice delivers Byron, Hood, Shelley et al. with new urgency, swaddled in the delicate but stirring musical arrangements of Warren Ellis – not new to soundtracking Byronic romance from his collaborations with Nick Cave. The effect is a persuasive argument for the marriage of language and music, affording more power to the original words than their arrangers could’ve imagined. It’s an act of transformation as powerful as the love itself. (Inertia) Jake Cleland given instrument: crisp finger snaps ( Missing ); skittish beats, rhythmic keys and liturgical BVs ( Lord It’s A Feeling ); and synths that evoke The Knife’s Silent Shout ( Lose Your Head ). London Grammar’s third record documents the experience of being a woman, positioning Reid under the spotlight more than ever before. Reid admits that while London Grammar were enjoying their extraordinary success, her experience was tainted by a still-misogynistic music industry that denied her permission to be band leader: “If you’re a ‘lady’ singer with an ethereal voice, that old school still assumes that the boys must take care of everything else.” Opportunities for a cathartic boogie ( Baby It’s You ) are interspersed with moments of quiet contemplation ( All My Love ) before the gentle acquiescence of America’s closing statement reiterates this record’s “death of the American Dream” theme: “I’ll just be left here in America/ But she’ll never have a home for me.” (Universal) Bryget Chrisfield

“I don’t know who I am anymore,” Kevin Mitchell sings on the sixth Bob Evans album, the first in five years. But there’s no identity crisis here. Eighteen years after his first album, the Suburban Kid is all grown up, but he remains a masterful proponent of classic pop songwriting and the result still sounds like one big hug. Opening cut Born Yesterday is a wistful, nostalgic piece but with a hook that’ll have you humming all day; Stella Donnelly adds some backing vocals beauty to the power pop gem Concrete Heart ; and Elvis Costello would be proud of the punchy Excuses. And only Bob Evans could turn a song called Bad Mood into a sparkling pop treat. A

As one of the most exciting post- punk bands to come out of the UK in recent years, Dry Cleaning’s debut record certainly lives up to the hype. With a surrealist bent that would make Noel Fielding green with envy, the band cleverly capture millennial ennui within their idiosyncratic lyrics, somehow effortlessly treading the line between being relatable and odd. The group tap into themes of 21st century disconnection on each track, wielding razor-sharp lyrics and angular guitars while musing about capitalism, food and the banality of existence. Put any preconceptions aside and immerse yourself in a band that will surprise with every turn, yet leave you wanting more after every listen. (4AD/Remote Control) Holly Pereira

welcome return. (Dew Process) Jeff Jenkins

FEATURE ARTIST

Big Scary Daisy

Beloved Melbourne duo Big Scary return with Daisy , an album that champions their DIY spirit. Four years between records might suggest that the dynamic between Tom Iansek and Jo Syme has changed, however their enviable musical intimacy can be heard the moment Syme’s drumbeat kicks in on the meditative Wake . Naturally, their sound has evolved between albums – Syme’s soulful vocal makes more of an appearance, while Iansek’s #1 Dads side project has had a clear influence on his songwriting, with arrangements much more delicate across the record. The duo have deliberately kept the album as live-sounding as possible, forgoing overdubs for a sound that captures what Big Scary do best. (Pieater/Inertia) Holly Pereira

harmonies and this album’s majestic Intro morphs into a cinematic masterpiece, which is bound to wind up as the title sequence of your next bingeworthy TV series. “I left my soul/ On Californian soil...” – the title track evokes Massive Attack’s Teardrop (feat. Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser), with Reid’s crystalline pipes taking centre- stage over a descending, irregular beat that evokes a dripping tap. Instrumentation throughout serves only to enhance and elevate Reid’s spectacular god-

London Grammar Californian Soil

Church bells ring out and then Hannah Reid’s pure, heavenly voice delivers a wistful melody – no lyrics, just “Oooooooh”s. Enter lush strings plus desolate

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