Some days it’s hard to come to grips with the idea that anyone with the name Rick Scully isn’t a private investigator. First it’s anger, then it’s grief and usually just before lunch it’s acceptance. It’s a pain mitigated by the knowledge that though the name is near wasted, this one particular Rick Scully is doing something that clearly suits his skill set better than any sleuthing ever might have. He lives out Burwood way making guitar based beats of quality commensurate with his relevant musical background. You see readership, Rick Scully is one third of Yon Yonson. Your collective gasps will suffice to show you understand the gravity of the situation. Correct, you are in the digital presence of a mastermind, Burwood’s truest muse. The EP is a cheerful four tracks long and is calm but warm, moving forward slowly but forward none the less. I’ve chosen Nestle for your single song pleasure but listen to the whole EP through because each of the four songs reveals something different about Rick Scully as a musical entity.
JP Klipspringer (Real life name Jack Poulson) today shares with you [via me] his debut EP in its entirety. If you’re an Australian music devotee then you may have already heard the first two Klipspringer singles but he’s given over his remaining 50% for yours truly to round out the release. Fortunately he’s kept some ammunition in the chamber in the form of Anastasia, my favourite from the EP.
The inimitable Simon Lam has used some precious annual leave from his regular projects I’lls and Klo to leave his fingerprints on this one. He never overshadows Poulson on any of these songs, allowing some warmth and padding to underpin the vocals and cradling the existing melodies in a technicolour sheen. The full EP, here, now, for you.
Stop what you’re doing, listen to the new song from Jack R Reilly. Maybe get a tea or something, whatever you need to do to settle yourself fully before dedicating three and a half minutes to unbroken listening. Jack R Reilly’s new recording is a detailing of the physiological process of a debut panic attack which is perfectly hilarious in that this song is effectively the antithesis of an axious moment. He’s found that particularly sweet spot that’s served Fionn Regan admirably over the years, a tandem assault of gently strummed acoustic guitar verses and a big, harmonised chorus. I truly hope JRR finds the right ears because I can’t help but think this is going to resonate very, very strongly with a lot of people should they only have the chance to hear it. I’m certainly one of those people. His first song made an interested listener of me, his second has made me a fan.
The new song from Crooked Colours stays roughly in the same domain previously allocated to the band so don’t come to this expecting 13 minutes of experimental ambient rock. There was a couple of seconds at the start of the track where the guitar lick gave me deja-vouz sensations akin to smelling a very familiar smell that you just can’t quite pin down but I *think* it makes me think of Paul Simon’s Graceland. I know that sounds completely absurd but I’m talking only of that one micro moment, nothing more than a hint of fragrance. That same Alt-Jism to the vocal part is there which isn’t so obvious as to be derivative and lends the necessary flavour to make this stand out among some of it’s competing Australian contemporaries. Toms for good measure and you’d have to feel, at this point, that Sweat It Out might just have something decent on their hands.
Luluc are a tricky post that are making the cut by virtue of a technicality. Zoë Randell and Steve Hassett spend split their time between Melbourne and Brooklyn, the latter where this track and it’s containing album were recorded. Just for laughs they enlisted The National’s Bryce Dessner after they called their mate Darren to see if he could produce their record but Darren wasn’t free so Bryce came through as a last resort. Still, Bryce has done a pretty nice job of it, at least on this first track ‘Without A Face’. A game I’ve enjoyed playing while listening is called ‘Guess If It’s Zoë Or Steve Singing’. Usually I start the track thinking it’s clear cut Steve but by midway through I’m not so sure anymore. Shakers and fingerpicking and eventual strings that would drive home the sentiment if I knew exactly what the sentiment was, ‘Without A Face’ is going to burrow into the same heart-space you’ve had empty since you stopped listening to Iron & Wine. The duo make use of the bittersweet broad metaphor work that Andrew Bird so successfully trades in and I for one am impressed with the results. July 11 will see it out through Inertia and Mistletone in Australia where in the US it’ll be out through the little known Sub-Pop music company.
