Let the Sunburnt Country Burn (Greta Mob)

YORTA Yorta, the opening track of this Sydney band's debut album, is one of the most striking songs released this year.

Greta Mob

YORTA Yorta, the opening track of this Sydney band's debut album, is one of the most striking songs released this year.

The narrator tells a story from his childhood of being caught trespassing while fishing in northern Victoria. When he pleads ignorance, stating his belief that the land belonged to the local indigenous clan - the Yorta Yorta people - he's told that "There ain't no more of them blacks alive / They started killing them back in 1835". In his dream that night, the narrator witnesses a tribal elder's brutal murder at the hands of a white farmer. The singer ends with an impassioned cry that echoes Midnight Oil's Beds are Burning: "The truth be known, we don't own this land / Let's give it back to them".

This seven-minute tale is set to a rollicking rock backbeat; clashing guitars and mournful harmonica lines add to the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the seven tracks that follow don't come close to the opener. Greta Mob was formed by singer Rhyece O'Neill - who plays nearly every instrument here - and drummer Luke Millar two years ago; Let the Sunburnt Country Burn was recorded in a warehouse in Berlin, in Sydney, and in a shearing shed south of Mudgee, NSW.

The album sounds fantastic, thanks to the natural reverb of those open spaces. Although this is an uneven debut, there are some great ideas. Greta Mob may soon join the Drones and the Kill Devil Hills, two independent acts that continually strive to make intelligent, evocative Australian rock music.

Rating: 3.5 stars