Don't Tell the Driver (Mick Turner)

NEW work by one of Australia's most distinctive guitarists is always worth a listen, and usually worth dwelling on at length.

Don't tell the driver

NEW work by one of Australia's most distinctive guitarists is always worth a listen, and usually worth dwelling on at some length.

Don't Tell the Driver slots neatly into the latter category. It's the fourth album by Melbourne-based musician Mick Turner, who is one-third of the internationally acclaimed instrumental rock act Dirty Three. His laconic, meticulous style of playing is evocative no matter the context; a memorable quote by Bobby Gillespie, frontman of Scottish rock band Primal Scream, describes his six-string style as "the way that stars are spaced out across the sky".

Turner's past solo releases have been tough to recommend due to their meandering, unfocused nature: his last album, 2003's Moth, comprised 19 short, looped instrumental ideas. Here the guitarist has enlisted a diverse group of players to bolster the mix, and it works well: horns, piano, melodica, bass and drums drift in and out of focus but never overshadow the star of the show.

Most notable is the addition of vocals on a few of the 11 tracks: Caroline Kennedy-McCracken's softly sung words wrap nicely around the gentle rhythm of the title track, and opera singer Oliver Mann makes an unexpected appearance at the beginning of album standout Over Waves.

That Turner has embraced a more traditional style of songwriting is to his credit. No one else plays guitar quite the way he does. Don't Tell the Driver is recommended as his strongest and most accessible work to date.

Rating: 3.5 stars