STACK #186 Apr 2020

MUSIC REVIEWS

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Sorry 925 London duo Sorry started out with a couple of online mixtapes. Their early recordings were as thrilling and surprising as the best YouTube deep dives, spiralling through indie rock and downbeat pop. Asha Lorenz and Louis O'Bryen continued to chase their curiosities, drawing fans further into their world with groundbreaking live shows and additional singles. 925 arrives as their highly anticipated debut. As expected, it's a masterful melange of music history that sounds like no one but themselves: the optimism of '60s orchestral pop meets the theatrical nihilism of ‘90s grunge, and the dissonance of no wave dances with some of the strongest earworm melodies you'll hear all year. (Domino) SimonWinkler

Various Artists Trolls: World Tour OST

The Kite String Tangle C()D3X While few artists debut as self- assuredly as The Kite String Tangle’s Danny Harley, it’s also been a joy watching the ambitious producer evolve from strength to strength. Since his Hottest 100-ranking debut in 2013, his oeuvre of forward- thinking electronic pop oozing with dancefloor desperation has grown into one of this country’s greatest secret weapons. On C() D3X , Harley makes percussion the real star, a chattering rhythm section running through every track, with buoyant and hyperactive melodies contrasting against lyrics of doubt and isolation, peaking in the sublime, instrumental GHOST NOISE and culminating in a stunning collaboration with Melbourne’s LANKS. The perfect party record for the upcoming cold season. (Warner) Jake Cleland Casey Barnes Town Of A Million Dreams After 14 years of hard work, Casey Barnes has emerged as a new country star. Town Of A Million Dreams , his fifth album, shows why this Gold Coast singer has set country radio alight. With a voice that’s believable and true, he knows how to deliver a stompin’ bar-room anthem – check out the opening cut, A Little More , packed with hooks that will have you humming all day – but he’s also capable of genuinely affecting songs such as Fine Wine and No Other You . Featuring Missy Lancaster, No Other You is one of the year’s finest ballads. “Save me,” Barnes sings. “I’m in over my head.” But you sense that he’s more than ready to become an overnight sensation. (Chugg Music/MGM) Jeff Jenkins

#1 Dads Golden Repair Golden Repair is the third solo album from Melbourne's Tom Iansek. It's another pristine collection of melodies and meditations on the human spirit. The title is so apt for the music Tom makes; it's a reference to the Japanese artform "Kintsugi", meaning to patch with gold. By repairing broken bowls with this precious metal, faultlines are transformed into borders of beauty and strength. Iansek sings of everyday struggles with tenderness. On songs like Orion , Iansek invites us to find peace and resilience through the cracks and confusion. The chorus swells with a simple message: "all of it is alright". The music is equally elegant in its craft. #1 Dads builds each song with care, layering vocals, plaintive piano figures, acoustic guitar, and understated percussion. (Pieater) SimonWinkler Slowly Slowly Race Car Blues Over the last five years Melbourne pop-punk heroes Slowly Slowly have captured the hearts of a young generation of Australian music fans. On their third record Race Car Blues the band translate their live energy into some impassioned performances, with songs such as You Are Bigger Than This Town and Safety Switch (featuring Bec Stevens) boasting a rousing chorus. The band counterbalance these anthemic moments with a striking tenderness on Superpower , which is centred around Ben Stewart’s affecting vocal and a lone guitar. Just when many lay claim that the glory days of emo are over, Slowly Slowly remain proof that this is far from the case. (Unfd) Holly Pereira

The Lego Movie (and its follow- up) set the bar for animated film soundtracks in recent memory, but Trolls: World Tour pulls a trick familiar to kids’ media immemorial: being just referential enough to give the grown-ups something to chew on. With Ozzy Osbourne more or less playing himself in the film, Rachel Bloom’s Heart and Scorpions covers, a remix of Parliament’s Atomic Dog , and the Lauper-aping Trolls Wanna Have Good Times , Trolls: World Tour neatly bridges the gap between the kids and their Gen X parents. Millennials aren’t forgotten though: hot takes from HAIM, Kelly Clarkson, Anderson .Paak, and franchise mainstay Justin Timberlake give Trolls: World Tour something for everyone. (Sony) Jake Cleland Lucinda Williams Good Souls Better Angels More than 40 years of making music has made Lucinda Williams one of the pioneers of the Americana sound. On her latest album claiming, “It’s all come full circle”, she gets back to the the gritty roots of her early days. This album is dark and heavy, bluesy and rock, raw and direct. The focus is on this messed up world we live in from the constant barrage of a frightening news cycle, depression, domestic abuse and that man without a soul. Co-written and co-produced with husband/manager Tom Overby and reuniting with producer Ray Kennedy ( Car Wheels On A Gravel Road ) this is Williams' most confronting and powerful album yet. (Highway 20/ThirtyTigers) Denise Hylands

Nina Simone Fodder On My Wings

Originally released in 1982 this album documents a number of deeply personal songs recorded during a testing time in the legendary singer's life. Battling with a number of personal problems, she dealt with her despair by expressing herself through the music on this extraordinary album that captures, with starting intimacy, the pain of this period. The title track, I Was Just A Stupid Dog To Them , They Took My Hand carry an air of defiance and are typical of many of her previous recordings that railed against racism and bigotry. At the core of the album is a lyrical improvisation about her dying father on Gilbert O'Sullivan's Alone Again (Naturally) that once heard will never be forgotten.This is contemporary music in its most powerful form. (Verve) Billy Pinnell

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APRIL 2020

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