STACK #209 Mar 2022

MUSIC FEATURE

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O n his fourth album, NewYork-based Australian Alex Cameron adopts the identity of an opioid-addicted man ALEX CAMERON BREAKS CHARACTER

CHAMELEONIC ALDOUS RETURNS N ew Zealand musician Aldous Harding has always been difficult to pin down, a quality that feels intentional considering her avant- garde instrumentation, abstract lyrics and surreal visuals.

as a vehicle for his songwriting. A record of cautionary tales laced with regret, Oxy Music sees Cameron notably more contemplative, his usual suaveness replaced with an awareness that makes his proclamations feel profound against a backdrop of '80s synths and euphoric choruses. Songs are made all the more rousing with Roy Molloy’s saxophone, the instrument particularly elevating Sara Jo and Prescription Lenses . The album also features two duets: Cancel Culture with rapper Lloyd Vines, and the album’s title track with Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson, which closes the record out on an exhilarating note. Holly Pereira Oxy Music by Alex Cameron is out March 11 via Secretly Canadian.

Harding’s distinctive voice – her most notable instrument, as a multi-instrumentalist – is a chameleon on fourth record Warm Chris . It's occasionally child-like in pitch, while at other times it takes on a deep tenor which blends seamlessly with the sound of a saxophone. Her voice also possesses a grit it hasn’t had before – piano-march Fever in particular offers this new side. For the most part, Harding keeps listeners at a distance, though threads of commentary about relationships and identity filter through in a manner that’s beguiling, and arresting. Holly Pereira

Warm Chris by

Aldous Harding is out March 25 via 4AD.

MIDNIGHT OIL'S RESIST THRILLS FROM START TO FINISH

W hen Bernard Fanning won an ARIA in 2006, he appealed to “all Australian musicians that are around now, and the ones of the future, to use Midnight Oil as an example. They’re such a great example to people like us, ’cause there’s a lot of great things about Australia but there’s a lot of sh-t

things about this country at the moment as well, and it’s up to people like us to stand up and say something about it.” I’m not sure if any other Aussie act stepped up to fill the void. Thank God for Midnight Oil. The late Bones Hillman’s blistering bass work can be heard

on Midnight Oil’s 13th studio album, Resist , which plays as a wonderful tribute. Together with drummer Rob Hirst, Hillman was part of one of the greatest rhythm sections in Australian music history. Garrett sings about “reliving past glories” in the album’s first single and opening track, Rising Seas . But the Oils have

loudest voices win, words are now worth less than silence.” Surprisingly, Resist also exhibits a sense of humour. “Who

Resist by Midnight Oil is out now via Sony.

left the bag of idiots open?”

never been a band to rest on their laurels, and that remains the case here. Put simply, Resist is a thrill from start to finish. These are love songs to the planet. And though “old king coal is dying”, all is not well. “This is not the Summer of Love,” the band notes in We Resist , while the following track Lost At Sea starts ominously: “In the age when the

Garrett asks in The Barka- Darling River . Later, he refers to “coal-fired erections” in Reef , which sounds like a how-to-vote song. “Consign them to purgatory,” he states simply. If Resist is the end of the road for Midnight Oil, it’s one to treasure. “All that I have now is a souvenir of you,” Garrett notes in the Jim Moginie gem Tarkine . But there’s no doubt we still need them. As Garrett asks in the final track, Last Frontier : “Who fixes the messes that we keep making?” Jeff Jenkins

Read the full, unabridged review online at stack.com.au

78 MARCH 2022

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