Mia Wray, Henry Wagons, Ghostwoods: New album reviews

A Noosa-bred pop star on the rise has drawn some impressive comparisons with her distinctive vocal style PLUS Henry Wagons and Ghostwoods.

Mia Wray. Picture: Michelle Pitiris/She is Aphrodite

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

INDIE

Mia Wray, Stay Awake

(Ivy League/Mushroom) ***

Melbourne-via-Noosa’s Mia Wray has attracted attention with her vocal chops, drawing comparisons to powerhouses from Adele to Florence. And on this debut EP her striking style, which often utilises vibrato, is in full flight. Energetic opener Rerun recalls The Jezabels, while the title track is another pulsing highlight. On I’d Be Lying she rages: “You said we’d last forever/Guess that makes you a liar.” At five tracks (including three existing single) it feels like it’s over before it really gets going, but it’s nevertheless enough to whet the appetite for mo’ Mia. Wray plays Maroochydore’s Sol Bar on March 3 and Brisbane’s Black Bear Lodge on March 4.

COUNTRY

Henry Wagons, South of Everywhere

(Cheatin’ Hearts) ***

While his musical style is in the American tradition – he’s recorded in Nashville – Henry Wagons is inspired by characters and situations in his native Australia, with references to Orange and Devon (the “south of everywhere” in the title). On his third solo outing Wagons’ authentic drawl is matched only by the musical twang that evokes the desolation and loneliness only country music can convey. “I ain’t lowering the curtain anytime soon/But the third act is playing under a crescent moon,” Wagons laments on I Don’t Know When It Is I’m Gonna Die. He channels his inner Paul Simon on It’s Time to Go Joe (and leave Steve), and covers Bob Dylan on the relevant-as-ever Everything is Broken. Wagons plays Lefty’s in Brisbane on February 26.

AMBIENT

Ghostwoods, My Neon

(4000 Records) ***1/2

They’re billed as experimental dark jazz, but the word that springs to mind while absorbing the debut album by Brisbane’s Ghostwoods is ambient. Drummer and band leader James Lees slowly birthed the concept as a lockdown project. Opener Dreamless establishes the ambient credentials, while on Terminal Bliss sax builds to a frenetic cacophony above a persistent percussive march. Saturnine is hypnotic in its clocklike rhythm, while keyboard-centric Liminal recalls some of The Grid’s more ambient moments. And Brighter Now is replete with sounds of nature. At six tracks it might be brief, but there’s only so much surreal exploration the mind can take!

Originally published as Mia Wray, Henry Wagons, Ghostwoods: New album reviews