Jaguar Jonze, Ball Park Music, Michael Franti & Spearhead: New album reviews

A Brisbane artist gets loud and proud in the #MeToo era PLUS Ball Park Music and Michael Franti & Spearhead.

Jaguar Jonze, aka Deena Lynch, in her recording studio in Brisbane’s Kelvin Grove. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

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

ALTERNATIVE

Jaguar Jonze, BUNNY MODE

(Nettwerk) ***1/2

“You could’ve destroyed me, but then I got loud.” She is woman, hear this Jaguar roar. The Brisbane Eurovision star has added her voice to the #MeToo movement, her debut long-player a triumph of survival over childhood abuse. “Tried to keep us quiet, so ashamed/But now we’re only getting louder,” she rages on MANMADE MONSTER. It’s dark and menacing heavy synth that regularly explodes into a full-frontal aural assault – as do her vocals. And her soprano can rival The Jezabels’ Hayley Mary and even the recently rediscovered Kate Bush. She pushes the envelope with an R-rated lyric on SWALLOW and masturbation reference on DRAWING LINES. And LITTLE FIRES will be familiar to any Eurovision fan.

In pictures: Australian Women in Music Awards

ALTERNATIVE

Ball Park Music, Weirder & Weirder

(Prawn Records) ***1/2

The QMA 2021 album of the year winners, who count no less than Daniel Radcliffe among their fans, now present their seventh studio album, and true to form it’s a grab bag of indie rock goodness. They’re “burning the Midnight Oil CDs on Right Now, which channels the Beatles and T-Rex, while The Present Moment has shades of Radiohead. On heartfelt ballad Beautiful Blueberries frontman Sam Cromack croons: “There’s no greater feeling than a feeling that’s true,” while the title track traces life from a bun in the oven to a casserole mind: “Every year they add one more thing/It’s getting weirder and weirder out here baby.” And Pleb Rock is one for the punters: “I’m just a pleb like you.”

POP

Michael Franti & Spearhead, Follow Your Heart

(Sony) ***

In an era of war, plague, fire, flood and toxic tribalism, Michael Franti is the voice of hope and unity we need right now. His special blend of reggae, R&B and hip hop is salve for the soul: “Don’t give up when your voice is trembling/When your life needs mending,” he sings on motivational anthem Brighter Day with its oh-way-oh backing harmonies. Elsewhere he philosophises: “Life is Amazing then it sucks, then it’s amazing again.” People Need People is a lesson learned from the pandemic, while Life Reminds Us We’re Alive says it’s OK our big dreams don’t always work out: “Take the big hits when you feel them.”

Originally published as Jaguar Jonze, Ball Park Music, Michael Franti & Spearhead: New album reviews