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| Smaller Servings - May 2008 |
| by Steve Scully | |
| Wed:07-May-08 | |
      
Kooky multi-instrumental, multi-vocal indie assaults are coming thick and fast nowadays (they may possibly be my favourite band at the moment, but I blame Arcade Fire). Gentleman Auction House is the newest band getting in on the act, with their own slant on a tried-and-true formula: twee-ish girl and boy vocals are offset by disturbing, somewhat gothic sensations (see ‘ABCDEFGraveyard’). In drawing a comparison with Belle & Sebastian, it just starts a landslide of possible objects of derivativeness: you can look to Grandaddy and the Flaming Lips, even over to Glaswegian group My Latest Novel. Gentleman Auction House has really thrown it all in here, and it’s a hit-and-miss effort of an EP (like many EPs, The Book of Matches tries to cover too many bases). While ‘Our Angry Town Stamps Them Out’ is impressive in its incorporation of drunken howling screams and a damn impressive flute solo, it’s on the understated ‘A Parting Shot’ that the band finds the most comfortable niche. With so much going on, and so much genre-hopping, they do little to illustrate their actual intentions here, but suggest a variety of possibilities. The Book of Matches asks more questions than it gives answers, unfortunately. Tilly & the Wall – ‘Cacophony’ (Team Love) From my favourite tap-dancing band comes the first song from an eagerly-awaited new album. Happily, it’s more of the same from the ridiculously attractive Nebraskan quintet, whose snippets of endearingly energetic exuberance kept all audiences spellbound in their last visit to Australia. If O, the upcoming record, is all like ‘Cacophony’, it’s going to be another rollicking affair: a multi-vocalist, rambling track, full of rhythm changes and ‘House of Fun’ hooks, it’s a flat-out two-and-a-half minutes. As long as they keep Jamie Pressnall in her tap shoes, Tilly & the Wall will always suffer from the ‘gimmick’ label, but when they keep churning out tracks like this you can’t help but try to tap along… which of course I don’t (cos I’m an old-fashioned, Gary Cooper sorta man: no tears, no affection and no dancing). Armen Firman – 'Porch Dweller' (Independent) It’s no secret that I’m biased: Melbourne’s a lovely city, and its music scene is second to none in the Australia stakes (sorry Perthians). Armen Firman’s 'Porch Dweller' is the band’s first single from an upcoming EP, and it’s nice. Although there’s not much in terms of dynamics, and hook-wise it’s a barren little landscape, that’s not the point of the affair, I’d suspect: whilst it reaches a glorious pinnacle at its conclusion, with Tom Whitty really hitting his straps vocally, it’s the gentle hum of the organ, the sparseness of the guitar, the overall sensation of restraint that reveals Armen Firman’s greatest strength. One Two – 'Annie Mall' (Four) Well, this one’s a sure winner: French accents, a killer little riff and – in the light of the recent renaissance of 60s pop cheesiness – perfectly-judged playful romanticism. A fellow from the WB office once said to me: “chicks dig cute music.” I won’t disclose the man’s name, but going on his logic, and the ever-so-annoying fact that any brand of accented English throws females into rapturous shiver-fits, One Two’s 'Annie Mall' will do them good service and increase their groupie count three-fold.
… and the best of the bunch this month is:
 Daniel Ahearn – Pray for Me by Name (Independent)From the opening couple of tracks on Daniel Ahearn’s debut solo EP (he was once involved in a band called Ill Lit), you kind of sense he goes straight to the Ryan Adams section at the local record store pretty much every time he visits. A little more straight-forward and uninspiring than his apparent idol, Ahearn’s ‘Down for the Count’ is a Rhodes and guitar piece, nice enough, but light-on for any true ingenuity. ‘Jesus Saves’, however, is absolutely lovely. The quiet electro beats are perfectly executed, and the persistent rhythm and basic, sparse instrumentation come together to make this track a mesmerising, if slight, slice of genius. The occasional flourish of slide guitar continues to add a country flavour to the mix, and strange lyricisms are littered throughout (in ‘Whitewashing’: “I almost married your sister/ Just so we could be closer”), but for all the questionable elements to Ahearn’s work there are far more enviably elegant qualities: for one, his voice is as clean as it can get, and you hear every crack in his voice, every breath countered by the beautifully-held notes. Ahearn tells us that “it’s a world I’m trying to leave behind,” (‘Jesus Saves’) and with the sheer beauty of the second half of this EP – the wondrous melancholic mix of emotional honesty and masterful production – you feel he’s taking a step forward somehow, out of the world from which he seeks to flee.
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