STACK #200 Jun 2021

REVIEWS MUSIC

The Murlocs Bittersweet Dreams

The Scientists Negativity

Blackberry Smoke You Hear Georgia

Human Nature Good Good Life EP Turbo-crooner man-band

The Murlocs waste no time getting stuck into things on album number five, with lead singer Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s distinctive harmonica ringing out in the first moments of opening track Francesca . Gone is the gritty lo-fi of their earlier releases, however the Melbourne band have by no means compromised their sound. Instead, the more sophisticated production helps further accentuate the band’s well- honed style, which borrows the best elements of blues, rock and psychedelia in a way that still feels revitalising. Perhaps coloured by extended time in isolation, the album feels remarkably more reflective than previous Murlocs records, with tracks such as No Self Control and Misinterpreted largely sombre but still sprinkled with the band’s undeniable rhythm. (Flightless Records) Holly Pereira

Kim Salmon should be in the ARIA Hall of Fame. A legend of Australian music, he’s both trailblazer and fringe-dweller. “I’m an outsider,” he proudly proclaims on this vital new record. Forty years after the start of the second version of The Scientists, Salmon, bass player Boris Sujdovic, guitarist Tony Thewlis and drummer Leanne Cowie have put the band back together and issued the first Scientists studio album in 34 years. The guitars are fuzzy, like the memories. “This is my dissertation,” Salmon states in the aptly titled Dissonance. Forty-five years after his musical journey started in Perth, Salmon is part punk professor, part mad scientist. And The Scientists’ swampy, spiky sound continues to surprise, challenge and thrill. (InThe Red Records) Jeff Jenkins

Blackberry Smoke are from Atlanta, Georgia and this year sees them celebrating their 20-year anniversary with the release of their seventh studio album. What better way to celebrate than to make a record which reflects respect for the people, place and sound of their home state? This is southern rock, with their signature heavy guitar and bass riffs loud and proud; they also get some funky grooves and real deal honky tonk country in the mix too. Produced by fellow Georgia native Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile), the group spent 10 days recording at Nashville’s famed RCA Studio A, Cobb’s home base. Blackberry Smoke, we hear you loud and clear.

Human Nature modernise with five original hits. Original? Yes, Australia’s favourite sweet-as- apple-pie cover group have left 20th century jukebox belters behind for genuine newies that sit somewhere between post- Purpose /pre- Changes Bieber and Charlie Puth-ish optimist-pop. That’s a leap of six square decades coming off 2018’s Romance of the Jukebox , enough to wonder why they haven’t time travelled sooner. At a point in pop where big, beautiful voices are king, all it took was pairing with studied EDM disciples Grey to rip out a handful of bangers. Don’t make

it look too easy, guys. (Sony) Jake Cleland

(CookingVinyl) Denise Hylands

Gary Numan Intruder “You can whisper your Lord's Prayer/ And pretend that it matters/ But don't you wish you'd just listened more?” – the chorus crescendo from Intruder ’s title track perfectly encapsulates the theme of Gary

Japanese Breakfast Jubilee “A third record should feel

Liz Phair Soberish Pioneering indie rocker Liz

bombastic,” says Korean-American musician Michelle Zauner, better known by her moniker Japanese Breakfast. Jubilee achieves this easily, favouring synth pop sonics that take Zauner’s sound to a completely new level. This isn’t to say that Japanese Breakfast’s sound isn’t still electrifying; just take the outro for the track Savage Good Boy , which sees Zauner applying a robotic effect to her vocal before it reaches its staggering apex. Swells of emotion are interspersed throughout the record, though perhaps the most striking moment is found on penultimate track Tactics , a song that speaks of romantic attachment as strings and a delicate keyboard tug at the heart strings. (Dead Oceans/Inertia) Holly Pereira

Phair is back with Soberish , the Chicago native’s first album in over a decade. It doesn’t feel like any time has passed since her last release, with opening track Spanish Door possessing the hallmarks that have defined Phair’s career – candid lyrics, wry observations and impressive guitars. The record is a loose concept album, with Phair recounting her experiences of romance from the dizzying highs to a subsequent painful break-up, all while in the midst of intoxication and attempts to abstain from alcohol’s powerful pull. Soberish is the perfect re-introduction to Phair, but also serves as an ideal entry point for

Numan’s latest concept album, which explores “climate change from the planet’s point of view”. Numan says these songs “try to express what I believe the earth must feel at the moment. It feels betrayed, hurt and ravaged. Disillusioned and heartbroken, it is now fighting back.” As such, it’s an understandably bleak affair, bursting with metallic riffs and maximum synth melodrama. The NewWave trailblazer’s grandiose singing – fittingly often beseeching in tone – represents our plaintive planet in compelling fashion. Piano and strings underscore A Black Sun before bombastic, Depeche Mode-ish percussion and woozy synths engulf the choruses. Throughout Intruder , our solar system is humanised ("When I was/ A child..."); sleeping, ageing and capable of feeling emotions deeply. Intensifying to The Prodigy-level terror, The Chosen jumps in and out of the circle-pit with alarming regularity: “How could you leave your home to burn?... How could you laugh as children warned you/ How could you take their world away?” – we sincerely hope Intruder finds its way to Greta Thunberg’s ears. Elsewhere, Saints And Liars slams, When You Fall is banging industrial electronica at its finest, and closer The End Of Dragons (Alt) wonderfully showcases the emotional nuances within Numan’s delivery, his vocals dominating the mix. Instrumentally, Numan’s 18th studio album sounds like a future Mad Max soundtrack. And Nine Inch Nails’ debt to Numan is undeniable. (BMG/Warner/Inertia) Bryget Chrisfield

new fans of a musical icon. (Chrysalis/PIAS/Inertia) Holly Pereira

21