Coldplay, The Predators, Baker Boy, Dave Brewer: New album reviews

Not content with being the world’s biggest stadium band, Coldplay are going interstellar PLUS The Predators, Baker Boy and Dave Brewer.

Coldplay have released Music of the Spheres. Picture: James Marcus Haney

This week’s album reviews from The Courier-Mail (ratings out of five stars):

POP

Coldplay, Music of the Spheres

(Parlophone) ***1/2

William Shatner might be the first recording artist in space, but Coldplay are the first to actually release a song there. And with hieroglyphic song titles, altered vocals and cosmic themes, their latest album could be a message for alien life forms. But rather than an SOS, it’s more a celebration of love and humanity: “Capable of kindness, so they called us Humankind,” Chris Martin sings. And they make their guitars sound like interstellar transmissions on Coloratura: “In the end it’s all about the love you’re sending out.” Music of the Spheres is a logical progression from recent albums: The first proper song Higher Power recalls Birds and the ambient ∞ has shades of Amazing Day (while sampling Ole Ole Ole). And Let Somebody Go (with Selena Gomez) is the obligatory break-up duet. Then there are the ’70s big beats and power chords of People of the Pride (complete with Bono-like “yeah-eh-eh-eh-eh”).

ROCK

The Predators, Everybody Loves

(Independent) ****

Getting the nucleus of that other “P” band back together is a double-edged sword. It brings you publicity you wouldn’t otherwise get, but it also invites comparisons and questions about a fully fledged reunion. Nevertheless, John Collins, Ian Haug and Steve Bishop have rekindled their side project from the mid-Noughties, and the result is an album firmly rooted in their alternative ’80s influences, with jangling guitars and an often-morose mood that recall fellow Brisbanites The Go-Betweens and Haug’s more recent band The Church. New single Taking Fire is a standout, along with Say My Piece and Wrong Side of Down. And on Lead the Way Bishop – whose voice is not unlike that of another drummer-vocalist Rob Hirst – sings: “We are all in our way disabled.” And Powderfinger-like melodies inevitably bubble to the surface on tracks such as Too Far to Mention. It’s a solid effort that deserves to stand, and be judged, on its own.

HIP HOP

Baker Boy, Gela

(Island) ****

“People listen but they don’t understand/I’m just a brother reppin’ Arnhem Land.” Brisbane-via Townsville-via NT’s Danzal Baker is in the vanguard of First Nations artists enjoying a renaissance in our new woke world. The plight of his people is addressed early with a traditional refrain and the defiant new single Survive, but then the mood largely turns to celebration. Mirroring the multicultural melting pot of modern society, didgeridoo, clapsticks and Baker’s native tongue intermingle with rap, R&B and drum-n-bass. Ride and Move are two of the biggest earworms, while Meditjin is a dancefloor stomper reminding us that for all our differences and divisions, it’s music that unifies and heals. And proving his credentials as the Fresh Prince of Arnhem Land is the funky, chunky synth of My Mind, Funk With Us and MYMD. A cavalcade of guest vocalists includes JessB, Yirrmal and G. Flip.

BLUES

Dave Brewer, Long Road Back Home

(Independent) ***

Smooth and mellow is the order of the day on veteran Aussie bluesman Dave Brewer’s first solo record in eight years. His Richard Clapton-esque vocals and intricate guitar virtuosity conspire to make a heady, er, brew. “Anytime you slip and fall/All You Gotta Do (Is Call),” he sings on the languid opener. Then there are the smouldering horns of Bad Luck is My Best Friend and the subdued refrain of Hard to Say Goodbye. “Love has gone away,” Brewer laments on the title track, with slow-brush drums and atmospheric organ. It all adds up to a sultry soundtrack for the summery days ahead.