Album of the week: Tenzin Choegyal puts the world in world music

The latest album by Tibetan Australian musician Tenzin Choegyal is a truly global collaboration. ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Brisbane Tibetan artist Tenzin Choegyal. Picture: David Kelly

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

WORLD MUSIC

Tenzin Choegyal, Whispering Sky

(4000 Records) ★★★½

Brisbane is privileged to be home to acclaimed Grammy-nominated Tibetan artist Tenzin Choegyal, and his 10th studio effort expands both our musical horizons and consciousness. It began to take shape in his home studio, ultimately being recorded across Australia, Canada, the UK and Japan with an international cast of collaborators. Dolma Whispering Sky features a plaintive refrain above choral chanting fading to a flutelike outro, Kyama the Roof is Leaking features hypnotic breaking-wave effects, while meditative Tenzin Sings With Nightingales is bookended by flute solos. Then there’s the stirring instrumental Gyallu Tibetan Anthem featuring Canadians Matt Antal and Metta Strings, and Jhalla I Fly to You with guests Morley Shanti Kamen and Chris Bruce.

PREVIOUS REVIEWS

INDIE POP

Amy Shark, Sunday Sadness

(Sony) ★★★

She may have trodden the well-worn path to Sydney of many a Queensland artist, but we’ll always call Amy Shark one of our own. And her latest long-player is a grab-bag of musical styles, from the retro electro-rock of Can I Shower at Yours to the breezy guitars of Loving Me Lover and the Lisa Loeb vibe of autobiographical I’m Sorry. Suitably morose opener Slide Down the Wall stands in stark contrast to the happy-clappy It’s Nice to Feel This Way Again. “Don’t promise me anything again,” she pleads on Gone, and she “crosses the friendship line” on Two Friends and Our Time Together. Meanwhile, blink-182’s Tom DeLonge guests on My Only Friend: “If s/he tries that s—- again say you’re here with me.”

INDIE ROCK

The Trams, Tiny Sparks

(Independent) ★★★½

“I don’t want to be an angry old man, shaking my fist at the sun.” A bunch of old mates and lifetime music lovers making an album for the love of it must be the purest form of the art. And as their name suggests, Brisbane’s The Trams bring a healthy dose of nostalgia along for the ride on this sophomore effort. Vocals are shared by former scribes Noel Mengel and Tony Moore (who bears a more-than-passing resemblance to Tim Finn - exhibit A, the synth-soaked title track). There’s the bouncy Song For Dessie J and the insistent rhythm and swirling synth of Dancing With Nobody. Sense of Fashion name-checks Central Station, George Street and the Story Bridge, while they reflect on the inevitability of change with Somewhere Round Here, which takes an even more grim turn when they “bury the ashes”. The twang of Daybreak evokes imagery of central Queensland. But the funnest track must be Sweet El Nino: “The polar bears, they’re white and round/They need our help, some common ground.”

ALTERNATIVE

Fanning Dempsey National Park, The Deluge

(Dew Process/Universal) ★★★★

The same day this super duo dropped their debut collab, this ageing music buff caught the 45th anniversary tour of Australasian new-wave pioneers Mi-Sex. The parallels were undeniable. The Deluge is straight out of the era of early video games and synthesizers, the types of things that would have blown the adolescent minds of Bernard Fanning and Paul Dempsey. Think of it as the eight-bit spiritual successor to Regurgitator’s Unit. Having between them previously taken aim at the likes of John Howard and Philip Ruddock, they excoriate the “failing upwards” Scott Morrison on Born Expecting: “No first-hand experience with a consequence... There’s just so much less than meets the eye.” Upbeat single Disconnect is the ultimate pastiche of dual vocals, backing harmonies, synth and sax. Early Robert Palmer and David Bowie meet A Flock of Seagulls on Strangers, while Dunning Kruger National Park is the most Something For Kate-like, building to a stirring crescendo. Closing ballad King of Nowhere is as close as they get to what you might expect. Custard once observed that The Synthesizer is Rapidly Overtaking the Guitar as the Most Popular Instrument in the World, but Fanning Dempsey National Park show the two can still coexist in exquisite harmony.

ROCK

The Angels, Ninety Nine

(Bloodlines) ★★★

The Angels’ first original studio album in a decade also debuts their first frontman whose name doesn’t end in “eeson”. The band’s former drummer Nick Norton has the unenviable task of filling not only Doc Neeson’s but Dave Gleeson’s shoes – he handles it with aplomb, by the way – while John Brewster’s sons Sam and Tom ensure the band now has more Brewsters than Crowded House has Finns! Norton doesn’t try to ape either of his predecessors, though his vocal style is closer to that of Gleeson. Pulsating opener Ninety Nine (Go For Broke) takes aim at the richest 1 per cent, while Blue Winter has echoes of Tom Petty’s Refugee. There’s the backbeat of Follow the Red Thread and the epic Floydian guitar solo of Heart to Heart. The set closes on a high with Hue and Cry, whose frenetic harp and driving rhythm recall classic numbers like Eat City.

ALT-COUNTRY

The Smith & Western Jury, Hotel Texas

(Independent) ★★★

Not to be confused with Smith & Wesson – but with everything in common with country and western – this Melbourne quartet come out shooting from the hip on their six-years-in-the-making debut. From the warbling vocals and rambling rhythm of opener Have Mercy it’s apparent that while they’re proud Melburnians the band are, as their name suggests, unashamedly Americana (and even occasionally Mexicana, as heard on Bow Ties and Bull——). Upbeat break-up lament Cowboy Blues, with its driving keyboard, is a reminder that staring at the phone used to mean something different. And they reach peak twang on Do Your Worst, Button That Collar and poignant campfire ditty Hurt Like Hell: “All I know is that the sun will always rise.” The instrumentation is more than competent, but the real revelation is Samantha Lombardi’s voice.

ROCK

Bon Jovi, Forever

(Island/Universal) ★★½

Jon Bon Jovi’s eponymous band have been rocking us for nearly four decades, so it’s little wonder their 16th studio album (and first in four years) reflects on life and legacy. Their hard-rocking past has given way to middle-aged, middle-of-the-road territory more akin to Train or Nickelback. “We were full of 17... sometimes what you want ain’t what you need,” the frontman sings on We Made It Look Easy. “Jersey Shore cover bands, coupla friends in the stands on a Saturday night.” Elsewhere he observes: “We’re Seeds, reaching for life in the weeds.” Living Proof sports a Living on a Prayer-like guitar effect as it celebrates family legacy, while anthemic ode My First Guitar is another highlight. He’s the proud but forlorn father on obligatory swaying ballad Kiss the Bride, which will be a must-add for wedding playlists among the Bon Jovi demographic. And in the most divisive US election year in history, they try to maintain the union on The People’s House. For ardent fans it’s familiar comfort food, for those hoping for something new there’s nothing to see (or hear) here.

Originally published as Album of the week: Tenzin Choegyal puts the world in world music