Sarah Blasko What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have by: Scott Collins Mon:05-Nov-07 Label: Dew Process Year: 2007 WB rating 71 out of 100

Sarah Blasko is an enigma, her riddle being a persona that gives little away, leaving slightly eccentric pop offerings as the only real portal into her character. On stage it is this mystique, her Aussie songstress status, that makes Blasko simultaneously the queen of anti-music marketing – by only showing skin from elbow down, dressing in vintage attire with deep and dark autumn colours and swaying on stage like a thinly rooted winter tree in a harsh wind – and yet oddly loved by the commercial rock-pop crowd.

It is the charm and versatility of her voice that allows this wide accessibility. Her ability to at one point drive a tune, then slide into tenderness, slightly morphing the ends of words into something sweet and pure, almost naïve, allows a fresh spin to familiar sounds and certifies Blasko as a crossover artist.

What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have’s running themes of the sea, the ocean, the environment and the way in which we live our lives according to our surroundings, flow throughout the album. Songs such as ‘The Garden’s End’ and ‘The Albatross’ bring darkness to subtleties, Blasko’s characters are left to make their way through busy and thick obstacles confronting them at every corner. The undergrowth is coarse and there are people watching, looking for attempts of short cuts or character failings. The album is distinctly Blasko; however it is a darker and more complicated offering than her previous release, The Overture and the Underscore.  The flipside to these more eccentric offerings are the album’s free flowing ballads. ‘Planet New Year’ runs open with bounding steps from the first beat; ‘Hammer’ verges into the more eerie territory, but a fast and hook-heavy chorus warrants inclusion in Blasko’s more straight-laced fare.

As the queen of anti-marketing, the album lacks any distinct year or attempts to exist in the now. With references to Kings and Queens, ladies by wells and seafaring; in Blasko’s universe factories and infirmaries, circa the industrial revolution, are about as contemporary as the narrative goes. Such themes tie tightly to the cover artwork depicting Blasko’s hair as a vast thick swelling ocean, an image inspired by an illustration from 1910.

First released in October of 2006, What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have has recently been restacked on the shelves as a special edition version. The difference: A DVD containing eight film clips and Sarah’s commentary for each. There are no new songs or B-sides and one wonders if the label is misguided in believing this addition will result in many sales – the loyal fans will already have seen her clips and own this record and a few minutes of insight about video clip production for each track doesn’t justify the extra spend.

Yet for those who do not own the album the clips serve as another aid in unravelling the mystery that is Sarah Blasko. The highlights include her romantic relationship with a piano in ‘Planet New Year’ and the one-take uni-coloured rooms in an artistic day-in-the-life type video for ‘Always on the Line’. Also, Blasko’s explanation into the meaning of the lyrics of ‘Perfect Now’ from The Overture and the Underscore is a rare spoken word insight into the private realm of the songstress.

While fans and critics alike may crave more diversity in an all-important third release, with What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have Blasko has carved out a unique place in the Australian music landscape and provided herself with a strong fan base for future offerings. It seems what Sarah wants, Sarah will have. Well, for now anyway.