Sia’s film soundtrack album Music falls a little short of greatness
The Adelaide-born artist has channelled her melodic pop genius into the soundtrack to her controversial big-screen directorial debut, named Music.
Album reviews for week of February 27, 2021:
POP
Music
Sia
Warner/Monkey Puzzle
Bursting with influences across electronica, dance, K-pop and Brazilian samba, Adelaide-born singer-songwriter Sia Furler has channelled her melodic pop genius into the soundtrack to her recent big-screen directorial debut Music. Ten of the 14 songs on this album — her ninth — were written for the film, with the additional songs said to be inspired by it. In 2018, Furler began collaborating with prolific producer Diplo as two-thirds of the group LSD, and this set feels like a continuation of the mishmash of world music and choppy, synthy beats heard there. The funky, tropical thump of Brazilian Bahia throbbing beneath bubbly female vocals on Floating Through Space is vintage Diplo, and the pair might have amped up the crazy bleeps and cosmically kooky lyrics if not for the pop sensibilities of Jack Antonoff, who helped steer Taylor Swift’s last two accomplished albums. On Music, he co-writes joyfully catchy opener Together, which features a children’s choral harmony.
Courage to Change is a soaring, life-affirming anthem, while the fittingly cinematic title track was co-written with pianist and songwriter Christopher Braide. British artist Dua Lipa — whose 2020 album Future Nostalgia was a hook-filled pop masterpiece — co-writes on piano-based ballad Saved My Life, which is so saccharine that it treads a fine line between pop marvel and Hallmark card cliche. Fellow LSD collaborator Labrinth appears on Oblivion amid orchestral strings and layered harmonies, and the contrast between Furler’s operatic vocals and Labrinth’s boyish, fuss-free delivery epitomises her strength and vision: that music should be unexpected and humanising. It should offer a clash of colours, tempo and instruments, and the voice itself is an instrument that winds and weaves in mysterious ways. Her film has garnered mixed reviews and strong opinions due to its depiction of autism. The soundtrack, however, proves Furler is an artist who has an unrivalled ear for how best to blend incongruous sounds and voices. Music is pure, relentless optimism that falls short of greatness.
Cat Woods
JAZZ
Jazz & Cocktails
Gregg Arthur
Independent
One has to feel for the gifted Australian singer Gregg Arthur. His latest album includes three originals by himself and pianist Peter Locke, and nine standard tunes. Unfortunately he is competing with great versions of these standards already in the collective memory and on YouTube. Still there’s good news. Arthur is backed here by a stellar jazz quintet: Locke, bassist Craig Scott, drummer Tim Geldens, saxophonist Michael Avgenicos and guitarist Jim Pennell. Whether presenting the Ellington/Strayhorn repertoire, or tunes such as Nature Boy, In The Still of the Night, and A Child Is Born, this exceptional singer, like Sinatra, delivers immortal melodies with impeccable phrasing. This rare ability is one of many qualities which enable Arthur to compete on equal terms with whatever the past has to offer.
Eric Myers
ELECTRONIC
Herald
Odette
EMI Music
Herald is a mix of dance beats, post-relationship grief and the self-revelations that result from being alone for the first time in a long time. This second album from the Sydney-based artist born Georgia Odette Sallybanks is lush in its instrumentation, squelchy synths, swirling atmospherics and at the forefront, the 24 year old’s plush, sonorous voice. Here she has opted to pair with producer Damian Taylor, whose CV includes The Prodigy, Arcade Fire and UNKLE. The epic, atmospheric layering of vocals and instruments is potent: I Miss You I’m Sorry is Bjork-esque in its quirky stop-start sentences, flourishes of strings, and tinkly keyboards sprinkled throughout, while the title track lands a throbbing beat over rattlesnake percussion, harp and handclaps building to a stadium-sized banger.
Cat Woods
PUNK/EMO
Everything Is Tenuous
Luca Brasi
Cooking Vinyl Australia
After cracking the ARIA Top 10 with 2018’s Stay, Tasmania’s Luca Brasi was spurred by the pandemic to self-produce this fifth album of melodic punk. Rather than be tempted into indulgence, the quartet emerges both disciplined and commercial-friendly, embracing vocal echoes and poppy harmonies without diminishing a classic emo sound (think Jimmy Eat World or Joyce Manor). Restless even packs a dramatic post-rock flourish in the manner of Explosions in the Sky, while the closing Sea Sick enlists young Hobart songwriter Kat Edwards for a smoky guest verse. The constant throughout is singer/bassist Tyler Richardson, whose lyrics lean heavily on romantic devotion and somewhat harsh self-deprecation. That can make for some uneven wordplay, but otherwise these crisp anthems are reliably effective.
Doug Wallen
FOLK/POP
Still Time
Karen Matheson
Compass/Planet
Freed temporarily from Capercaillie, the acclaimed Scottish folk band she has fronted for the best part of 40 years, Karen Matheson adopts an eclectic approach while retaining a proclivity for Caledonian song writing. Central in her latest solo excursion are four thought-provoking modern songs authored by compatriot James Grant and a brace of romantic 18th century ballads from the pen of Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns. Fittingly, Still Time starts with a classy cover of Grant’s poppy Cassiopeia Coming Through imbued with jazzy piano, horn and brushed drums, and ends with a suitably stately rendition of Ae Fond Kiss, one of Burns’s most cherished creations. In between, Matheson delivers the album’s surprising highlight: an irresistibly catchy bouzouki-driven bluegrass song, The Diamond Ring.
Tony Hillier
POP
Sweet Inspiration
Kate Ceberano
Sony Music
A year ago, singer Kate Ceberano joined forces with The Church’s Steve Kilbey and Brisbane journalist/musician Sean Sennett to release The Dangerous Age, a co-written album of rare quality. Then came Covid, and now Ceberano’s new album Sweet Inspiration, recorded between Melbourne lockdowns. Her 28th, it’s a collection of covers along with two originals, the gospel-tinged title track (music by Rick Price) and the even better Hold On. Highlights among the other 10 tracks here are superlative versions of Elbow’s Mirrorball, Paul Weller’s You Do Something To Me and Carole King’s So Far Away. The other six covers, including songs made famous by Olivia Newton-John, Dolly Parton, Anne Murray and Leo Sayer, paraphrase an old saying: too much familiarity breeds contempt, no matter how effective the renditions.
Phil Stafford
Album reviews for week of February 20, 2021:
ROCK
Medicine at Midnight
Foo Fighters
Sony/Roswell Records
In 1995 Foo Fighters debuted with its impossibly strong self-titled album. At the time it was a revelation, unexpectedly living up to post-Nirvana expectations and simultaneously introducing drummer Dave Grohl as a world-class singer, songwriter and guitarist in his own right. That record and its superior follow-up, 1997’s The Colour and the Shape, also created enough goodwill to allow the band to coast through 20+ years of steadily less-thrilling releases. Album No 10, Medicine at Midnight, is supposedly the Foos’ “disco” album, likened by the press material to Bowie’s Let’s Dance. And the comparison works, at least in that the 1983 album is also surprisingly short and has about three decent songs on it. In non-COVID times this nine-track album would be seen, correctly, as existing purely as a justification for a world tour filled with the band’s trademark jubilant, life-affirming gigs. And there are some songs which will doubtlessly squeeze into future setlists, such as Making A Fire and the Killers-lite Love Dies Young, with its briefly danceable four-on-the-floor beat.
Then there’s everything else. No Son Of Mine is a tribute to Motorhead’s late leader Lemmy, in that it shamelessly rips off the Ace Of Spades riff; Cloudspotter starts stripped-back and intriguing before the band scurry back to a yawn-inducing Foos-by-numbers chunky chorus; Chasing Birds is a string of cliches fashioned into an acoustic ballad, and the title track is so relentlessly unmemorable it’s impossible to recall even when you’re listening to it. For all of the supposed experimentation there’s nothing here you haven’t heard before, and done better by others. But there’s a larger issue that the album makes clear: Foo Fighters are arguably the world’s last global stadium rock band, and if this is the cul-de-sac that guitar music has driven into while hip hop and EDM keep conquering new creative frontiers, maybe it deserves to die out as a popular mainstream genre. The indefatigable Grohl is still rock’s most beloved dorky-cool uncle and Medicine at Midnight isn’t going to tarnish his legacy. It’s not bad, just frustratingly unnecessary.
Andrew P. Street
JAZZ
There’ll Be Some Changes Played
Tim Stevens Trio
Independent
One of the qualities I most admire in a jazz group is nonchalance. I don’t hear it much in today’s albums, as it is often overridden by other forces in the music. Occasionally an album comes along where, as the music unfolds, I feel that the musicians are not trying to make it happen; they are allowing it to happen, and have surrendered themselves to the music. This is so with the brilliant trio led by Melbourne pianist Tim Stevens, which handles all time-feels with aplomb. Perhaps this is because he, Ben Robertson (bass) and Dave Beck (drums) have been together for 15 years and an intuitive trust unites them. No-one is trying to impress; no-one is trying too hard. The result is an outstanding album, a masterly exploration of 10 beautiful Stevens compositions.
Eric Myers
HIP-HOP/DANCE/METAL
Deadly Hearts: Walking Together
Various Artists
ABC Music/Universal
On the third album in the Deadly Hearts series, some of Australia’s best Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists reimage iconic Australian songs, delivering rawness and relevance. Gamilaroi artist Kobie Dee raps melodically about being “a young black man” in A Long Way Away From My Country. Miiesha’s dreamy, melting-marshmallow voice sweetens Neon Moon. Neil Morris, known as DRMNGNOW, applies his poetic, soulful touch to a piano-based groove on Get Back to the Land. Gamilaraay language is a joyous surprise on Mitch Tambo’s didgeridoo-spiked take on Absolutely Everybody. Stan Walker and Isaiah duet over the lo-fi Don’t Dream It’s Over, weaving between languages seamlessly. A vibrant celebration of culture and talent: deadly, indeed.
Cat Woods
SOUTHERN ROCK/ROOTS
Meet My Ghosts
David Schaak
Independent
Southern rock, a genre that peaked in the US four decades ago, is alive and well and living in Brisbane in the guise of David Schaak. Originally from Melbourne, the singer, songwriter and guitarist reinvigorates a rootsy brand of rock still trading currency via the likes of Gov’t Mule and the Drive-By Truckers with this debut album. Schaak sidesteps the form’s redneck trappings (Confederate flags, good ol’ boys and endless guitar solos) for sharply observed, literate songs that speak of loss, loneliness and “how nothing goes to plan, just quicksand” (the banjo-flavoured Runaway). With a voice that variously recalls the Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson, Steve Earle and Gregg Allman, Schaak also wields a guitar that can either lacerate in electric mode or soothe the savage breast acoustically, as on the album’s confessional title track.
Phil Stafford
ART ROCK
For the First Time
Black Country, New Road
Ninja Tune/Inertia
In a world of indie-rock homogeneity, you immediately notice bands like Black Country, New Road. The British septet doesn’t so much defy genre categorisations as it openly flaunts its music existing entirely outside of it. That much is clear from the outset of its debut album, which opens with a five-minute instrumental melding klezmer, math-rock and roots music. Across six tracks and 40 minutes, the band effortlessly weave dynamics and stylistic tessellations, exuding confidence normally reserved for an act decades into its career. Its unusual melange of swelling violins, beat-poetry lyrics and sprawling guitars ensure there is never a dull or even skippable moment throughout. Guitar bands better hit the drawing board with some loftier ambitions for 2021 if they want to compete.
David James Young
POP
Hey U x
Benee
Republic/Universal
Recall Lily Allen’s butter-wouldn’t-melt melodies that shared stories of disappointing sex, divorce, and drugs? There’s the same dark underbelly to 20-year-old NZ artist Benee’s bouncy pop tunes. Happen To Me divulges insomnia and anxiety issues over a chilled beat; Grimes shows up on the glitchy, vocoder-voiced Sheesh, and Allen, the British pop queen herself, adds her signature vocals to Plain. The first seven tracks, including hugely popular Supalonely, stick to the formula of drum machine loops, trip-hop bass with occasional swerves into dub. Then Winter rides in atop growling guitar, and the album’s latter half capture Benee’s voice a shade deeper amid subjects more gothic. The artist born Stella Bennett might have begun as a TikTok sensation but may yet become a pop queen herself.
Cat Woods
Album reviews for week of February 13, 2021:
CHILDREN’S/POP
Bluey The Album
Joff Bush
Demon Music Group
There are precious few shows, for children or otherwise, that have the utter gall to release an album of its incidental music — but then, no other show is Bluey. It’s the ABC’s most watched program by a ridiculously long chalk, has been picked up overseas and is unique in the pantheon of children’s TV in being genuinely deserving of every single accolade thrown at it. And that extends to the music too, which is why this recently became the first children’s album in history to debut at No 1 on the ARIA chart. If you’re wondering how a disc of music from a kid’s cartoon could be worth listening to without the visuals, the answer is simple: composer/arranger Joff Bush is a genius. Aside from the insanely infectious theme — included in three versions, including an “Instrument Parade” of different arrangements — there’s the skank-worthy ska of Taxi, the lilting country folk of Who Likes To Dance?, and the contemporary electronica of Pool, which would probably have reached the mid-20s of this year’s Hottest 100 had it just featured a whispery-voiced female vocalist over those burbling synth pads.
The cast turn up for the odd episode-specific line here and there, because you really couldn’t have Here Come The Grannies! without Bluey bellowing the titular line in the intro, but it’s a genuine pleasure to hear the full versions of pieces that otherwise existed in 30 second grabs. And it’s worth noting that everything here is from the first half of the first season, so parents can be reassured that while there are emotional, evocative pieces from The Creek and Camping, the gorgeous soundtrack from the more recent Sleepytime is not, meaning that you won’t burst into uncontrollable sobs every time your kid puts this on. Tracks like Fruit Bat and Keepy Uppy are so immediately familiar that they’re akin to old tunes you’ve forgotten rather than songs written to accompany an animated puppy’s dreaming of flying or chasing a balloon around a yard. Good thing this music is so memorable and catchy, because you can guarantee Bluey The Album will be blasting from every parent’s car if it isn’t already.
Andrew P. Street
FUNK/SOUL
Crossover
Emma Donovan and The Putbacks
Hopestreet Recordings
Emma Donovan, proud Gumbaynggirr woman, has teamed her powerful soul stylings with funk band the Putbacks for an album that rightfully has been ruling radio in Australia and internationally. Crossover is an ode to Donovan’s Dhangatti grandmother, and Pink Skirt is the standout. Mob March is anthemic, a protest song that is both a funky, subtle stomp and a throaty ode to freedom. Donovan comes from a family background of country singer-songwriters, while the Putbacks have been plying their smooth funk for years. The band melds gospel, soul and the superior storytelling of country music to build on a pairing that began with 2014’s Dawn. Though Donovan sings of grief and loss, Crossover is ultimately a celebration of life.
Cat Woods
JAZZ
Composers Plus Vol 1
ATM15 Big Band
Independent
Recorded at Melbourne’s Jazzlab in 2018, this album features originals from guest composers Michael Wallace, Mace Francis and Mat Jodrell, all West Australian musicians punching above their weight. Soloists include Andrea Keller (piano), Julien Wilson (tenor sax), Paul Williamson (trumpet) and Jordan Murray (trombone). Wallace’s and Francis’s works are unusual enough to sound innovative, and Jodrell’s powerful treatment of the immortal swing-feel sounds completely modern. The other four tracks feature a lovely slow original, from leader Andrew Murray, and three of his reinventions of well-known standards, where innovations are to be found in Murray’s brilliant orchestrations. I find Murray’s writing unusually beautiful because, I think, he balances so well the dichotomy between familiarity and abstraction.
Eric Myers
SOUL
The Reckless One
Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar
Gypsy Soul Records
The cover art of The Reckless One, the second album from superb Canadian seven-piece soul-gospel outfit Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar, depicts a hand grenade painted with flowers, an apt metaphor for Martin’s explosive voice and the decorative power of ensemble brass, busy keys (primarily organ) and propulsive rhythms. With two outstanding backup singers lending a soul revue edge, Delta Sugar is the sweetness to Martin’s heat. The album takes its title from a line in its centrepiece song, the slow-burning soul ballad I’ve Got a Feeling. Alternately recalling Memphis-era Dusty, Lulu, Duffy and Dap-Kings’ singer Sharon Jones, Martin hits peak funkiness on the album’s only cover, a slinky, Meters-style New Orleans take on Dylan’s Meet Me In the Morning.
Phil Stafford
POP
Disco
Kylie Minogue
BMG
Kylie Minogue’s gothic duet with Nick Cave is a long-distant memory compared with the dancefloor-ready offering of album No 15. “Do you believe in magic?” comes the refrain over synth handclaps on the opening track. Disco is not complex, nor as challenging as her Impossible Princess album was in 1997 with its adventures into electronica and lush instrumentation. Supernova recalls Daft Punk’s vocoder-rich synthetic boogie and what sounds like Nile Rodgers’s knack for bass, keys and string-laden grooves. Minogue is the queen of crafting anthemic tunes, so this isn’t boring for a second. The 52-year-old is a pop veteran channelling fellow legends: there’s Holiday-era Madonna on Monday Blues, Say Something recalls Cher and Cyndi Lauper, while Chic and Sister Sledge haunt Dancefloor Darling.
Cat Woods
POP/ROCK
OK Human
Weezer
Crush Music/Warner
Much like Weezer’s 2019 resurgence, an already-scheduled LP has been unexpectedly pre-empted by a different project entirely. Unlike the glorified karaoke of The Teal Album, however, OK Human may be one of the band’s most intriguing projects in years. With barely a guitar in sight, Rivers Cuomo and co have instead opted for a 38-piece orchestra — for the entire album, too. Although inspired by a certain pop vintage, the quintessential nature of the band’s outsider nature still weaves its way through. The tender Bird With a Broken Wing and the juxtaposed jaunt of All My Favorite Songs feed Cuomo’s vulnerability through considerably different yet equally stirring orchestral manoeuvres. This is a peculiar, rewarding baroque-pop odyssey. Your move, Van Weezer — album No 15 is due in May.
David James Young
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