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MUSIC REVIEWS

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Cable Ties All Her Plans Melbourne’s Cable Ties return with album three, the trio’s searing punk rock commenting on a still-fractured social landscape with razor-sharp incisiveness. Lead singer Jenny McKechnie’s rally cry is formidable on opener Crashing Through , the energy level maintained on Perfect Client , an all-guns blazing track that comments on the broken mental health system. The band offer a new side to their sound with the addition of piano and acoustic guitar on Mum’s Caravan , while drummer Shauna Boyle singing the lead vocal on Thoughts Back . As urgent and compelling as ever, on All Her Plans Cable Ties prove once again why they are one of the country’s finest acts. (Poison City Records) Holly Pereira

Geese 3D Country 3D Country is completely untethered, right from its first growling notes until its very end. Warping blues and funk together with an almost braggadocios ease, the record stomps and howls its way into your body, and it’s impossible to ignore. Lead singer Cameron Winter’s vocals are strikingly reminiscent of Parquet Courts’ Andrew Savage – which is unsurprising, given the two bands' strong New York roots. It’s a little rougher around the edges though, like if Mick Jagger dropped the pretence and let himself be utterly feral. 3D Country is a true midnight record; it’s snarling and wild and unrepentant; it’s a record for dark, sweaty nights, to be played as you meet a crossroads demon under the inky sky – an album to which you sell your soul. (Partisan/PIAS) Jacqui Picone

Grian Chatten Chaos for the Fly Yeah, yeah, Fontaines D.C. are all that and a bag of... But we’ve been aching for solo output from Grian Chatten, this Irish band’s vocalist, since our ears were first blessed by Leftfield’s exemplary raver Full Way Round (on which he features) – such an exhilarating vocal performance! A vivid collection of vignettes about people who live in

an imaginary small seaside town, Chatten portrays “the bitterness of lives not lived” to devastating effect on his debut solo album. He boasts a singular, once in-a-generation voice, embodying lairy youths, broken souls, and everything in between as he taps into the complex emotional worlds of these characters, somewhat like a playwright. Speaking about fingerpicked opening lead single The Score , Chatten enlightens: “I wrote it in Madrid between an electric fan and a dying plant, and I intend to keep it there” – every word that escapes his mouth is so goddamn quotable! Standout track Fairlies contrasts minimal, crooned verses with choruses that take flight: when those blazin’ fiddles invade the scene, a spontaneous jig is mandatory. The Dubliner typically singing tenderly and close to the mic throughout; elsewhere, carefree trumpet melodies strut through Bob’s Casino , East Coast Bed ’s synth shimmers like sun glitter, and distant harmonica emphasises I Am So Far ’s lonesomeness. “That was the season for lovin’/ This is the season for pain…” – darkness threatens to engulf even the shiniest moments, as sinister, percussive piano plonks usher out Season for the Pain , the album’s closing track. A shoo-in for the top end of this scribe’s end-of-year 'Best of' list. (Partisan/Liberation) Bryget Chrisfield

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Nothing But Thieves Dead Club City

Queens of the Stone Age In Times New Roman...

It’s not entirely clear whether Nothing But Thieves had a blueprint for the recording of Dead Club City . But then again, what better space for an artist to find themselves in than one of uninhibited creativity? And let’s just affirm: Dead Club City is a daring project. It seems like each time the record turns a

By now you’d think we’d have figured out a way of explaining how these desert-rock shamans engineer their sonic sorcery. But then again, Queens of the Stone Age do not exactly operate in conventional territory. While very much grounded in the blues-inspired

corner, we're sent down a fresh sonic detour, thoughtfully guided. While nothing unusual for this Essex troupe, who over the years have continually tinkered with and refined their measured blend of electro-fied indie rock, the experimentation feels a leap more ambitious on Dead Club City . Find yourself blissfully scaling peaks on Welcome to the DCC , a dynamic dancefloor filler teeming with bright, laserbeam synths, before re-entering Earthly domains on the coattails of Overcome , with its shimmering lead guitar passages and dulcet vocal tones. The lyrical flow of Keeping You Around effortlessly weaves its way through lo-fi drumbeats like tendrils around a tree branch. Experience the cinematic opulence of Foreign Language , after first reclining into the mellow Sunday vibes of Green Eyes :: Siena , featuring acoustics as warm as the afternoon sun. On Dead Club City , Nothing But Thieves show that they won't shy away from the daunting prospect of reinvention. (Sony) Alex Burgess

rock 'n’ roll tradition, In Times New Roman… owns a sleek backdrop which sits squarely within a contemporary recording context. The off-kilter trances Obscenery and Sicily may be structured around guitars and drums, but they are hypnotically powered by lethargic, demented string sections. However obtusely the realms of traditional influence and progressive studio production may coexist, it's the band’s innate synergy which makes the execution of tracks like Negative Space and lead single Emotion Sickness so clinical. Whether it's Homme indulging his crooner core on Carnavoyeur , or guitar neck contortions' ear-piercing shrieks on Paper Machete , what remains constant is that bone-dry, debonair aesthetic that's served as the band’s signature since time immemorial. In Times New Roman… is yet another notch in the ol’ belt for Homme and Co. But folks, in truth, did they ever give us a reason to doubt them? (Universal) Alex Burgess

34 JULY 2023

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