STACK #229 November 2023

MUSIC REVIEWS

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FEATURE ARTIST

Marcia Hines The Gospel According to Marcia I wasn’t sure I needed to hear another version of Amazing Grace, but here it is at the start of Marcia Hines’ new gospel album – and it’s as beautiful as anything you’ll hear this year. Unaccompanied, Hines’ voice is filled with vulnerability and power. It sounds like you’re at a gig and she’s singing just for you; it’s so perfect, you’ll need to pause before proceeding to play the rest of the record. Hines, who grew up singing in church in Boston, brings a lifetime of love to songs such as How Great Thou Art, Morning Has Broken, Loves Me Like a Rock, Down by the Riverside and Oh, Happy Day – and she revisits her Jesus Christ Superstar showstopper I Don’t Know How to Love Him. The sensitive, subtle production allows her vocal to soar and shine. Yep, Marcia Hines is one of the greats. And that’s the gospel truth. (ABC) Jeff Jenkins

The Bamboos This Is How You Do It It’s been a bruising year. The Bamboos’ Everything Gonna Be OK – on their 11th studio album – is the pick-me-up we need. Featuring New Zealand’s Kings, it’s a song for summer, a playful piece of breezy soul pop that will put a smile on your face. The Bamboos have been at the forefront of Melbourne’s soul scene since they started in 2000, showcasing the superb vocals of soul queen Kylie Auldist. “Check your inhibition, leave it at the door,” she instructs on this album, which also introduces a sparkling new talent: Auldist’s son, Reginald AK. He steps up on two tracks, Safe from Harm and Bored, arriving as a sophisticated soul man. If you wanna know how to craft a classy, contemporary soul record, look no further than The Bamboos: this is how you do it! (Pacific Theatre Records) Jeff Jenkins

Cold Chisel Last Stand: 40th Anniversary Edition The iconic poster that accompanies this

box set tells the story: Barnesy, arms raised in triumph, satisfaction and relief; towel in one arm, bottle of vodka in the other, headband keeping the sweat from his eyes. After a decade together, this was the end for one of our greatest rock

bands. The way to go out: The Last Stand, over five nights at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Personal relationships were fracturing, but the band still played what Don Walker called “the pure stuff”. “We’ve got some new songs and we think they’re okay,” Barnesy says when introducing Walker’s piano ballad Janelle . Of course, fans were not yet familiar with classics such as Flame Trees, Saturday Night and Only One, which would turn up on the Twentieth Century album four months later. “Now, dead-set, f-ck youse guys, I’ve had a good time with you,” Barnesy farewells the crowd at the end of Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye). “It’s been great.” Live albums don’t have much currency these days, but this box set is filled with riches – fans will devour the 10-inch vinyl of Last Stand outtakes, including Letter to Alan . “Those were the days,” Barnesy sings. “It does not mean that I’ve forgotten/ We believed, and I still do.” If your kids are wondering why you keep banging on about this band called Chisel, just give ’em this collection. Then they’ll understand. (Universal) Jeff Jenkins

FEATURE ARTIST

Angie McMahon Light, Dark, Light Again Like the late, great Sinead O’Connor, Angie McMahon’s voice is all that’s needed to create a mood. And as the title suggests, her second album is a rollercoaster of emotions. These are brutally honest songs about self-doubt, striving to stay positive and trying to find what works. Amidst the ache, McMahon is struggling to find the dance within. “I’m gonna dance every day till I’m old,” she declares in opener Saturn Returning . Then, in Divine Fault Line, she’s “starting to dance again”, while in the closing cut, she learns to “dance with nothing to prove”. In the end, just making it through is a triumph: “And you have to carry on, don’t you?” Who knows if Light, Dark, Light Again will find a similar audience to her stunning debut, Salt , but it confirms that Angie McMahon is a great artist. (AWAL) Jeff Jenkins

Meshuggah Chaosphere (25th anni. ed.) The bolts fastening Meshuggah’s sonic apparatus were tightened to excruciating degrees on their seminal third release. Chaosphere (1998) remains the gold standard of the band’s unyielding pursuit for dissonance and impenetrability, exemplifying the Swedes' penchant for time signature acrobatics, instrumental virtuosity, and dystopian soundscapes that disrupt the very fabric of what constitutes musicality. Shedding what remained of their thrash metal influences, Meshuggah became a technical, groove-oriented beast. The album's 25th anniversary release achieves what every worthwhile remaster should aspire to do; it enhances the listening experience without detracting from what made the music great in the first place, in a nip-tuck procedure deserving of this record's prodigious status in the extreme metal canon. (ADA) Alex Burgess

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard The Silver Cord It was starting to get a bit concerning that

we were heading into the final few months of 2023, and the perennially prolific King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard had only bestowed upon us a single album for the year. But we no longer have anything to worry

about because King Gizz have unveiled The Silver Cord , their 25th studio album since their establishment in 2010. And, true to form, it's a sonic adventure of mind-bending proportions. So, where does one venture next after trailblazing across the high-octane, dystopian thriller that was June's PetroDragonic Apocalypse... ? A synth inspired voyage through intergalactic space, of course! The Silver Cord sees the musical chameleons set aside their guitar pedals in favour of electronic pianos and fluorescent sunnies, escorting us through an auditory expedition that ascends into astral plains, and never truly returns back to Earth. On the coattails of Theia , we're launched into a sonic tapestry of ethereal electronics that are quite out of this world; the title track itself might very well depict the moment human beings first make contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life, communicating through a combination of spoken word and cosmic vibrations. But The Silver Cord is not all higher consciousness and no fun; the cybertronic beats of dancefloor bop Set will set alight the planetary arena in a display of funk and rhythm. It’s impossible to predict where the King Gizz spaceship will jet off to next, but one thing's for certain: it's sure to be somewhere we’ve never expected them to go before. (KGLW/Virgin) Alexander Burgess

42 NOVEMBER 2023

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