Album review: is How Many Songs John Williamson’s last creative act?

If You Wanna Be an Aussie could be described as “woke”, but the opener on How Many Songs is a testament to the bald honesty of the country music great’s songwriting spanning 55 years.

Country/folk singer-songwriter John Williamson, whose 53rd album ‘How Many Songs’ was released in 2025. Picture: Russell Shakespeare

Album reviews for week of April 19 2025:

 

COUNTRY/FOLK

How Many Songs

John Williamson

Warner Music Australia

★★★½

It’s a milestone year for John Williamson: not only is he turning 80 in November, but his career is now nudging past 55 years since the release of his debut single Old Man Emu (1970). Fifty-three albums in and – unsurprisingly – the tried and tested Williamson formula is once again the sonic medium through which he delivers How Many Songs. While it’s unlikely any of these tunes will find their way into the Australian Test cricket team’s post-match celebrations – as his signature tune True Blue has – there’s more than enough Aussie-flavoured storytelling here to satisfy fans of (sunburnt) country music. Twenty years shy of his own maiden century, there’s also a very real chance that this is goodbye for Williamson; his current tour alludes to this, titled My Travellin’ Days Are Done. If that’s the case, then that explains the sense of introspection that hangs over this collection of songs. Second track Beautiful Words (Come From You), in particular, sounds like it could be a musical eulogy of some sort, acknowledging the special place of True Blue in listeners’ lives and thanking fans for writing and speaking to him over the years – a far cry from the mild outcry induced by 2014’s Call Me Blue (“I’ve been called a redneck, I’ve been called green / I’ve been all the colours in between …”). Elsewhere, Boxful of Wood and the closing title track stand out as album highlights, as well as another great duet with his daughter Ami on Waiting for the Sun – a song no doubt familiar to his listeners, given it’s three years old.

Of course, part of the appeal of Williamson is the “on the nose” nature of his lyrics – but while that works for the most part here, there are a few points where, sadly, the prefix “too” has to be applied to the saying – most notably Uluru Forever, which, despite its admirable message, sounds like it could be lifted from the soundtrack of Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures. But ultimately, How Many Songs is another heart-on-sleeve collection that fits nicely into the extensive Williamson back catalogue. Opening number If You Wanna Be an Aussie might be a track you could describe as “woke”, but the song is a testament to the bald honesty of Williamson’s writing. Nothing here will move the dial regarding his well-established approach to country music; these are old-school musical storytelling sessions suited for the campfire or the couch on a winter evening. However, there’s something deeply satisfying about these warm arrangements, topped off with the occasional swell of a Telecaster or violin line. How Many Songs is foremost about Williamson’s thoughts and feelings as the world changes. Album No.53 represents John Williamson toying with the notion of whether or not this is his last creative act. If it is, then it is also definitive proof that across a remarkable 55-year career, he has lost none of the skills of the craft that have endeared audiences to him from 1970 onwards.

Alasdair Belling

 

INDIE ROCK

Forgiving Spree

Slowly Slowly

Nettwerk

★★

Across four albums of histrionic pop-punk, emo band Slowly Slowly has developed a cult following nationally that has led to countless tattoos. If you’re not deeply intimate with the Melbourne band’s decade-long lore, however, its success leaves you scratching your head. Album No.5 only makes matters worse: globbed in syrupy production by frontman Ben Stewart, the more pop-oriented approach matched with tearful melodrama is the sonic equivalent of pouring melted chocolate over your chicken. Allegedly inspired by The Killers and Bruce Springsteen, Stewart fundamentally lacks the pizzazz of the former and the poetry of the latter. Lead single Gimme the Wrench simultaneously overeggs its arrangement and underwhelms with a weak chorus, while both Love Letters and That’s That feel like what The 1975 would sound like on a budget of $19.75. Your heart goes out to Stewart on the lyrically devastating Hurricane, but its treacly synth-string and marshmallow-soft mixing make it feel less like an introspective ode and more like an insurance commercial. Consider the tattoo parlours safe this time around.

David James Young

 

FOLK/ROOTS

New Love

Ziggy Alberts

Commonfolk Records

★★★

Seven albums into his career, Queensland-born Ziggy Alberts continues to bring smiles to faces the world over. He attracts 1.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone, which is a testament to the lasting power of his style of roots music, made popular in the early 2000s via the likes of Jack Johnson, Xavier Rudd and Donovan Frankenreiter. With this release, Alberts is doing nothing new; indeed, New Love could have been released in 2002 and no one would have batted an eyelid. Having said that, where the record finds relevance and where it shines is in Alberts’s true belief in the songs that adorn New Love, the obvious energy he injects into them, and the finely honed musicianship he brings to it all. Occasionally, this does comes across as somewhat twee – the two, short spoken- word tracks seem largely superfluous, adding little to the flow of the album itself – but the jauntiness of the title track and Feeling Blue (with their subtle vocal harmonising), coupled with the slightly more muscular second half of the album (Outlaw, with its almost country feel), balance a simple, soulful and well-executed release.

Samuel J. Fell

 

ELECTRONIC/FOLK

Temporary

Everything Is Recorded

XL Recordings

★★★½

If there’s one thing Richard Russell knows best, it’s how to foster talent. This is the guy who signed era-defining acts like The Prodigy, M.I.A. and Adele, and their success cemented XL Recordings into a bastion of modern pop. After putting his own production work on the backburner for decades, Russell returned to making music in 2010, guided Gil Scott-Heron’s swan song, then released his two collaborative albums under the moniker Everything Is Recorded in 2018 and 2020. On his follow-up, Temporary, the XL boss plays to his strengths, assembling a diverse roster of celebrated artists to realise his vision of electronic folk. Light in rhythm and heavy on melody and sample pastiche, the album explores themes of grief and loss, with some emotional highs. Sampha and Florence Welch’s aching vocals pair brilliantly on the blissful Never Felt Better; Laura Groves, Jah Wobble and Yazz Ahmed whip the uplifting funk of Losing You into a groovy lather, and on Norm, Bill Callahan conjures a wistful ode to late comedian Norm Macdonald. It doesn’t reach the heights of his Mercury Prize-nominated debut, but three records in, Russell continues to prove Everything Is Recorded is anything but a vanity project.

Henry Johnstone

 

FOLK

Automatic

The Lumineers

Dualtone Music

★★½

You could be forgiven for thinking you’ve tumbled through a wormhole and found yourself in 2012 recently, with folk-pop stalwarts Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers both releasing new records at the top of 2025. The Lumineers rode the frayed coat-tails of the Mumford & Sons-led stadium banjo hype at the start of the 2010s, with single Ho Hey, from their self-titled debut, one of the biggest hits of the year. But it would be harsh and wrong to dismiss the Denver duo of Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites as pure one-hit-wonders. Follow-up albums Cleopatra (2016) and III (2019) were consistently interesting releases, uplifted by Schultz’s distinctive, curling vocals. Automatic is the band’s fifth studio record, and follows 2022’s middling Brightside. There are spots of great humour and cleverness, like the slinking Ativan, written from the perspective of the anti-anxiety medication, and Asshole, which hinges on the great lyrical run: “First we ever met /You thought I was an asshole / Probably correct / But I can see your shadow”. But what lets Automatic down are the plodding, meandering arrangements, very few of which ever get beyond first gear. After half an album’s worth, the slow pace renders Automatic unfortunately dreary.

Jules LeFevre

Album reviews for week of April 12 2025:

 

INDIE ROCK

Like Love

Ball Park Music

Prawn Records

★★★★

Brisbane’s Ball Park Music is now almost two decades into its career. In the process it has become the unlikely but arguably only real successor to fellow Queenslanders Powderfinger, in terms of being a genuine rock band with real heart that has achieved lasting local success without ever really cracking it internationally. Not that this ever seems to have fazed singer-songwriter Sam Cromack and company in the slightest. The multi-talented quintet has continued to pump out excellent albums at a regular clip — this is its eighth — while exploring more mature themes without ever losing its winning sensibility and penchant for a wry chorus lyric. It’s a smart strategy for a band which has essentially grown up alongside a vanishing Triple J demographic, one that has now aged out of the national youth broadcaster into vinyl, parenthood and craft beer. But it’s also an indicator of its talent that on its most introspective album, the group sounds fresher than ever. Like Love is billed as the band’s “late night” record, and upon first listen it certainly fits the bill. Many of the songs here are sparsely arranged and lean towards balladry, something at which Cromack has always excelled. Gone are the psychedelic strains and bluesy stomps of its previous two albums — Ball Park Music (2020) and Weirder & Weirder (2022) — replaced instead by a sort of charming, laid-back confidence that results in some of the band’s most enjoyable tracks in years. The melodies are gorgeous, from the unadorned Gabrielle to the pastoral, piano-led Bells in Bloom. So too is the instrumentation, from the jangle-pop of Please Don’t Move to Melbourne — which immediately evokes a Go-Betweens shimmer — to the rambling folk guitar of the title track.

It should go without saying that many of these songs come armed to the teeth with harmonies, especially opener Coast is Clear, which bursts out of the speakers with the voices of bassist Jennifer Boyce and brothers Dean and Daniel Hanson (guitar and drums, respectively). Longtime Ball Park fans (this reviewer included) typically came for the humour and musical theatrics — including keyboardist and trombonist Paul Furness — but stayed around for the feels. On an LP which heavily favours the latter, it’s refreshing to see that straightforward, honest songwriting can feel this effortless, as it does on Overwhelming Sound. This is testament to a group of friends who have toured pretty much non-stop through their entire adult lives; that longevity means the five players no longer have to guess what works. Now fully independent, they’re making some of the most affecting music of their lives. For proof, you only have to look to As Far As I Can Tell — an undeniable, ready-made radio anthem which stands up alongside Bernard Fanning, Paul Dempsey and the other lions of Australian indie music. From festivals to flat-packed cots, this is a band that’s proudly soundtracked an entire generation. We’re a lucky listening public that Ball Park Music has still got this much to give.

Jonathan Seidler

 

ROCK

Ultimo

The Beasts

Slick Productions

★★★★

WTF happened here? Did Rose Tattoo have a dream they’d gone glam and turned into Slade? Did Muddy Waters and Captain Beefheart rise from the grave to reanimate Suicide’s drone rock as futuristic dirty blues? Once upon a time The Beasts of Bourbon, this band has smashed the bottle and renamed themselves, with animal pride, The Beasts. Three members dead along the trail, this remains a supergroup of molasses-slow, heavy-duty rock ‘n’ roll. Tex Perkins is in extravagantly fine singing fettle; Kim Salmon all blitzkrieg chime and simmering feedback guitar. With Charlie Owen duelling on guitar and Boris Sujdovic on groin-injury bass, James Baker’s return to the group on drums after undergoing chemotherapy means a retooled engine ready to rumble. Ultimo isn’t the diary of a Sydney suburb, it’s a warrior state of mind. On the magnificent, melodic The Ballad of the Battle of Rock ‘n’ Roll, the Beasts’ manifesto rises with a comic-book eye on history and a humorous lust for life: “I may be hard to employ / I’m really only good for search and destroy.” They still got it.

Mark Mordue

 

JAZZ

Women of Jazz ’25

Various Artists

ABC Jazz

★★★★½

This impressive album from ABC Jazz has 11 tracks featuring a strong line-up of currently active Australian women jazz musicians. They are all part of the recent flowering of the music in this country. A highlight is the track from Kristin Berardi, singing Jenna Cave’s moving composition Void from the album Grief Hope Love, with a memorable saxophone solo from Loretta Palmeiro. Another is Ingrid James singing beautifully the Fred Hersch composition Stars. These lovely vocals from two of Australia’s finest female vocalists on their own render this album successful. I’m impelled also to single out Freyja Garbett, whose two piano solos give the album distinction: a convincing interpretation of Charlie Parker’s Billie’s Bounce; and an impressionistic reading of her ballad Blissing Parts I & II. In a Lucy Clifford composition, Sundaze Pt II, Garbett plays perhaps the most brilliant piano solo on the album. Where has this extraordinary musician been hiding in recent times? Look out for other big names featured here: Sophie Min, Hannah James, Kyrie Anderson and the aforementioned Lucy Clifford.

Eric Myers

 

FOLK/ROOTS

Hote’ Hote’

Charles Maimarosia

Wantok Music

★★★★

For renowned Solomon Islands musician and storyteller Charles Maimarosia, language is as important as the delivery of his soulful blend of traditional and contemporary music. A proficient songwriter now based in Victoria, Maimarosia has earned global acclaim for his championing of music of his ‘Are ‘Are culture, and his album Hote’ Hote’ is a powerful tribute to his spirit of ambition. Songs such as Haiamasina and Roropau speak to Maimarosia’s natural talents as a musician and vocalist; his voice is beautiful and soothing, a unique instrument in itself. There is nothing that feels isolating here, and that is down to the way he commands space: he sings with the warmth and confidence that comes with sharing music since he was 17, and on Hote’ Hote’ he continues to preserve his culture while also welcoming audiences far beyond his home province of Mailata to experience its beauty. An overarching theme of voyaging – a frequent presence in many Pacific cultures – is also at the heart of this album, which helps to power the listener forward with tales of determination and resolve that will resonate through the work of the next generation of Pacific storytellers.

Sosefina Fuamoli

 

INDIE POP

The Joys of Being Pure at Heart

Hachiku

Marathon Artists

★★★★

Anika Ostendorf strikes up an open dialogue with adulthood on her self-produced second album as Hachiku. The Melbourne-based German expat has described these songs as nuggets of everyday encouragement delivered directly to herself, and such positive themes certainly suit her soft, sugary voice and bejewelled pop melodies. But there are definite shades of complexity too, both emotionally and musically. Benefiting from the wisdom of hindsight, Ostendorf may admit “I can see that I have grown” during Keep On Swimming, but she also pleads “Just let me wallow in my pain some more” on Time Wasted Worrying. Sudden shifts in tempo and approach provide another enjoyable source of surprise, as does the punky verve of Fun For Everyone. This is Ostendorf’s first time recording with her touring bandmates Jessie Warren (bass), Georgia Smith (guitar) and Simon Reynolds (drums), alongside cameos from Los Angeles harpist Mary Lattimore and members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The result is a gorgeously textured sound world that delivers frequent head rushes of musical colour.

Doug Wallen