STACK #163 May 2018

MUSIC REVIEWS

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Courtney Barnett Tell Me How You Really Feel

Beach House 7 Dream pop stalwarts Beach House are up to album number seven, the aptly titled 7 . The two brains behind the project, Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, share vocals on the intoxicating opener Dark Spring , and follow with the tranquil Pay No Mind . Legrand’s layered vocals on L’Inconnue are hypnotic as synths descends over the track, and Legrand unveils some her native tongue French as the song progresses. An imposing synth steals the show on Drunk in LA , while the breathy vocals on Lose Your Smile take you to a blissful place. Beach House have well and truly cemented themselves as one of the most mesmerizing acts making contemporary music, their concoction of enticing vocals and richly-textured instrumentation hard to resist. (Mistletone) Holly Pereira

After flooring the world with her debut album Sometimes I Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit (2015), Courtney Barnett is back with her second solo release. It’s obvious from the gloriously slow paced opener Hopefulessness just how much she’s matured as a songwriter, and her dependable knack for a guitar hook is also evident on Charity and Help Your Self . I’m Not Your Mother, I’m Not Your Bitch has the raw energy of all your favourite punk songs, while closing track Sunday Roast is Barnett at her most self- reflective. Ultimately, what makes this album special is how Barnett makes her lyrics feels universal. It’s this quality that serves as clear proof of her significance in Australian music. (Milk!/Remote Control/Inertia) Holly Pereira

Missy Higgins Solastalgia Before every young female artist wanted to be Courtney Barnett, they wanted to be Missy Higgins. A lot has changed since Higgins burst onto the charts in 2004, but this record – her first of original material in six years – shows that she remains a vital artist. It’s no accident that the opening track is called Starting Again , “a search for a meaning” over some plaintive

piano. Later, she declares “yesterday must die.” Artistically, this is a new dawn for Higgins, and her most adventurous album yet. It’s obvious that she’s been doing a lot of thinking about the world since becoming a mum. There’s a feeling of impending doom, and you sense that the battle between hope and despair is as much internal as external. “I never felt so alive,” Higgins states in a song called Cemetery ; then two tracks later, “the darkness comes,” and then it’s “the end of everything.” “I know the world’s gone mad,” she sings, urging listeners to “be the difference.” Amidst the gloom is Futon Couch , a love song for her husband, Dan, which is a delightful earworm. Overall, Solastalgia is the sound of an artist pushing her boundaries, thematically and musically. The result is a triumph. (EMI) Jeff Jenkins

Evelyn Ida Morris Evelyn Ida Morris Pioneering Australian musician Evelyn Ida Morris has unveiled their debut release under their own name after many years performing as Pikelet. Here their primary instrument is the piano, as they grapple with their sense of identity as someone who is non-binary, with most songs on the album powerful instrumentals. The Body Appears is a stunning track that has Morris exploring their body and home, and on Wreck It we encounter an exhilarating piano that feels not too dissimilar to a flurry of thoughts. Meanwhile, Forecast introduces drums into the mix and is perhaps the closest to a pop song on the album. Evelyn Ida Morris is ultimately Morris boldly asserting their identity, with each track finding a way to transfix and surprise. (Milk!/Remote Control) Holly Pereira

Jon Hopkins Singularity Jon Hopkins' last album Immunity featured the extraordinary single Open Eye Signal . A hypnotic masterwork of dynamic dance music and experimental electronic production, it was accompanied by a video that saw a lone skateboarder cross the landscapes of America's west. Suburban cityscapes race by as we follow to the desert and coastline – one continuous journey that spans the known and unfamiliar, becoming something of a spiritual journey. So it is with Singularity , the latest album from the acclaimed London artist. It's a transporting record that reveals Hopkins' deepening interest in conflict and harmony, cities and nature, order and chaos. Songs glide through techno, ambient, instrumental, choral and psychedelic scenes: a singular, continuous journey into the infinite. (Domino) SimonWinkler

Leon Bridges Good Thing Like the soulful bygone era which Texan Leon Bridges represented so beautifully in his hugely successful debut Coming Home , the times, as they say, are a-changin'. Good Thing is two lanes meeting at the narrow point of the highway. In one lane, you have Bridges reflecting on the music in which his art was founded, and

in the other lane, his unbounded ambition. There are more than a few throwbacks to the sounds we fell in love with Bridges for; the jingle of Beyond and Bet Ain’t Worth The Hand showcase the artist's soul roots, and Mrs. his inner romantic – but overall, Good Things has got the goods. If It Feels Good (Then It Must Be) is possessed by Prince’s funky ghost; You Don’t Know ’s deep bass groove is met with sheer euphoria when Bridges' soaring falsetto chorus kicks off, and Bad Bad News is style and grace, sassiness and bass. (Sony)Tim Lambert

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MAY 2018

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