STACK #149 Mar 2017

MUSIC REVIEWS

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Syd Fin Syd isn’t just going to steal your girl, she’s going to whisper in your ear every detail of how she’ll do it first. This confident, fiercely seductive, 38-minute debut is the most complete female R'n'B album that wasn’t made by a Knowles sister. Syd has channelled the groundbreaking women of '90s R'n'B – Janet Jackson circa The Velvet Rope , Aaliyah, any Destiny's Child slow jam – and made them fresh again. All About Me is an instant classic, layered over a skuzzy futuristic beat; Shake Em Off dismisses haters and embraces self-appreciation; No Complaints is a not-so-subtle brag about fame while Drown In It is a not-so-subtle brag about her sexual conquests. There’s a sense of freedom in Syd's vocals as she eases between jazz, funk, pop, and trap arrangements. (Sony)Tim Lambert

Holly Throsby After A Time

“I want to go where I’ve never been,” Holly Throsby declares at the start of her fifth solo album, her first in six years. This multi- talented artist is not afraid to do different things, with After A Time following her impressive debut novel, Goodwood , as well as a 2010 children’s album. What Do You Say? , a call-and-response duet with Mark Kozelek, works a treat, while Going To The Sea and Find Your Way Home introduce a band dynamic. But for the most part this is a collection of intimate, atmospheric pop, showcasing Throsby’s delightfully dark vocal. “You know I can’t stay long,” she sings. Who knows what’s coming next? (Spunk) Jeff Jenkins

The Blackeyed Susans Close Your Eyes And See

“I like a song to make sense,” Rob Snarski states in his new book, You’re Not Rob Snarski . “I’m partial to a beginning, middle and end. I’m old school.” The Blackeyed Susans’ new studio album – their first in 14 years – contains nine perfectly-formed pieces of romantic pop. Nearly three decades after

they assembled in Perth, The Blackeyed Susans remain underappreciated, perhaps because the velvet-voiced Snarski exhibits no rockstar ego. “I don’t like the spotlight,” he confesses in album highlight I Don’t Dance (Anymore), “I can’t stand the glare; the attention, the detail, are too much to bear.” Fuelled by the songwriting smarts of co-conspirator Phil Kakulas, Snarski delivers songs that are deliciously dark. “Close your eyes and see,” he croons, “the darkness holds a light inside of me.” This is late night music for lovers, music to drift off to sleep to, though it’s not clear whether that sleep will be blissful or restless. “Are you the lover or the loved?” Snarski ponders. “Are you the one who loves too much or not enough?” This is an easy album to love. Dream on. (Teardrop Records/MGM) Jeff Jenkins

Thundercat Drunk Thundercat’s prodigious bass

Real Estate In Mind New Jersey’s Real Estate rolled in with the tide of lush, layered guitar music around the turn of the decade, and since debuting to critical acclaim, they’ve been riding the top of the wave. In Mind shows no signs of slipping: now four albums in, Real Estate revel in the eternal pleasure of deluxe melodies, still primarily leaning on the beguiling jangle of earlier records but complicating things for the better with jazzy drum patterns and synths and the plastic click of drum machines, sharing less DNA with your dad’s Flying Nun collection and more with his Steely Dan records. Every morose twenty-something has to grow up some time; if this is the sound of aging, Real Estate have nothing to fear. (Domino) Jake Cleland

Jeff Lang Alone In Bad Company Jeff Lang sings about a racehorse on his new album. Like racing, music is a tough business. You need a lot of luck. Like Palmera Lad, Lang has had a few wins along the way, but not enough to become a household name. Both Tom Petty and Neil Young would be proud of the eight-minute-20- second Palmera Lad , and the rest of the album – including a couple of songs co-written by Don Walker – is similarly impressive. Will it top the charts? No. But Lang will remain a punter’s favourite. He’s not a big man, but he’s a giant with his guitar, capable of creating thrilling soundscapes. And like Palmera Lad, Jeff Lang is a stayer. (ABC/Universal) Jeff Jenkins

Mick Thomas These Are The Songs

playing appears on more critically acclaimed records than you can poke a Grammy at (Kendrick Lamar, Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus), but when it comes to his solo records, it feels entirely effortless. Drunk exhibits Thundercat’s typical eccentricities: on some tracks it’s astral lyricism reminiscent of Ariel Pink (one song has Thundercat repeating “It’s cool to be a cat/ Meow meow meow”) and others it's introspective love jams calling back to pal Pharrell’s work with N.E.R.D. What saves it from unmitigated corniness is his production chops, spanning perfect balance between cosmic strangeness and grounded, diverse arrangements, Drunk is a blinding marriage of tradition and innovation. (Inertia) Jake Cleland jazz fusion and R&B to New Wavey synth jams. Striking a

“You remind me of someone I knew long ago, someone that I used to know…” If you’ve lost touch with Mick Thomas’ career post-Weddings Parties Anything, this generous compilation (23 songs, two CDs) is a good place to get reacquainted. There’s no doubting Thomas is a fine chronicler of good times and hard times, delivering drinking songs and thinking songs. Can I Sleep On Your Floor? is an anthem for every indie muso, while the sparkling cover of Rick Nelson’s Garden Party expresses the ethos: “If you can’t please everyone then you got to please yourself.” Also check out the companion book, These Are The Days . (Liberation) Jeff Jenkins

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MARCH 2017

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