Mia Dyson Struck Down by: Geoff Lemon Tue:04-Dec-07 Label: Backdoor Records Year: 2007 WB rating 70 out of 100

Mia Dyson is part of an encouraging and inspiring trend in Australian music. She is one of a group of women, including Clare Bowditch and Sarah Blasko, who are getting commercial and critical success, and who are doing it on their own. Together they are sticking it up the male-dominated music world, each attaining a media profile and commercial success without the aid of hotpants, pouting, choreographed dance moves, or cutesy girl-lead-singer bullshit. They are entirely credible artists and, finally, this isn’t proving to be a barrier to success.

Dyson’s status as a high-profile artist is already assured; her 2003 debut album Cold Water received an ARIA nomination, and her 2005 follow-up Parking Lots went one better and netted the award. Struck Down is her third album and, interestingly, it doesn’t betray any feeling of pressure that her previous successes might have engendered. It contains no gimmicks, no lame attempts to catch the mainstream eye, no commercial fodder. Throughout, her songs are true to the blues and roots aesthetic that Dyson has set for herself and while some of the songs aren’t brilliant, they are at least pure of heart. 

Right from the first listen, there is something inherently familiar about Struck Down. All of the songs are distinctly descended from 1960s and 70s folk and blues. There are hints of The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, and even some Rolling Stones, but most familiar of all is Dyson’s singing style, which seems to have been transplanted directly from the still-twitching corpse of some parallel Bob Dylan. While Dyson’s voice is far more tonal and pleasant on the ear than Dylan’s sinus-laden efforts, she mutters and mumbles her way across this record in a manner very reminiscent of his trademark delivery. 

While there’s always room on a record for acknowledging one’s heroes and influences, such acknowledgements should be subtle, worked into a new creation. The vocals on Struck Down feel more derivative than that, as though Dyson believed it was compulsory for this kind of music. ‘Heavy’ is the most overtly Dylan-influenced effort, from the identical vocal style to the folksy philosophy of the lyrics: “People will want you/To do just as they do/They’ll say it’s how it must be done.” But that track is certainly not the only one on this record.

The album as a whole is very consistent, a solid body of work that feels like it belongs together. While this is generally a good thing, it also works against Struck Down in one way – nothing about the album genuinely stands out. No one of the songs is likely to stick in your head for weeks straight. Because the album stays so firmly within genre, it can seem at times unadventurous. And while the previously listed influences would ideally lead to interesting songs, it’s not just Dyson’s singing that seems derivative at times. This is not to say the songs aren’t good – as far as roots and blues music goes, Dyson’s album is a fine creation. It’s just that much of it sounds just like things we’ve heard before.

The CD itself is beautifully packaged, with a fold-out cardboard case and a bonus disc of Dyson’s acoustic home demos. But it’s let down by a dodgy print job that has not only misnamed some of the songs and misprinted some of the lyrics, but even jumbled up the track numbers into a random order. If your printer can’t count from one to ten correctly, you’re in trouble.

The early stages of Struck Down offer the most diversity from the blues blueprint, ‘Never Felt Young’ having more than a lick of Jeff Buckley in its opening chords and melody. Semi-title track ‘Struck Down by the Open Road’ is a lovely song: low, slow, and richly atmospheric. It contains some wonderful vocal moments, especially as it trails out to its foggy ending: “There is no help coming/In dreams I am running.” But still, neither is ground-breaking. 

‘The Blue Sky’ is the album’s finest track, and probably the only one of real significance to emerge from this collection. Incredibly sparse and gentle in its construction, this is where Dyson’s voice is at its best. Spared the Dylan caricature, her sound is scraped raw as raw, trembling over the tender eroticism of “Won’t you take your shirt off/Flash me shining skin”, and the lovely descriptive verse of “Have you ever seen daylight turn to dust/From distant fires? See the sun rust…”. This is the kind of song that can give you more than a shiver or two, so make sure you turn it up as loud as you can.

Otherwise, unfortunately, there’s not too much to get excited about on Struck Down. ‘It’s No Crime’ is an attractive effort, but not exceptional. ‘People Will Turn on You’ is the least interesting song of the lot, Dyson once again Dylan-slurring as though she’d drunk the entire band’s rider before a show. 

The unfortunate conclusion to the album is ‘This Country’, an attempt to address the Aboriginal reconciliation issue. Obviously, Dyson is aware of the blues tradition of social commentary, and tries to apply it to an Australian context. This is a thorny one. Yes, artists have a responsibility to confront social issues, and this particular debate is often suffocated by the self-flagellating, politically correct idea that white Australians have no right to participate. So while the idea of Dyson writing about reconciliation is fine in theory, the problem is that her effort in this case is a very poor one. The level of insight from the verses is nil, and the refrain of “Mend baby, mend/heal child, heal” is insultingly trite, especially coming from a white woman. By all means, speak out on a subject, but only if you actually have something to say.

Of course, one can’t expect Dyson to get everything right. She’s still something of a prodigy, with three studio albums behind her at only 25 years old. There is certainly a lot to like about Struck Down. Some of the songs are genuinely beautiful, all of them are well-constructed, and Dyson’s voice itself is a pleasure to listen to, even if the Dylan style starts to get on your nerves. 

Play this album anywhere you go and chances are you’ll enjoy it thoroughly. But it is music that sits comfortably in the background instead of demanding your full attention. And the thing is, while you’ll enjoy Struck Down, play the albums by which it is influenced and you’ll probably enjoy any one of them as much. The descendant is just not different enough from its ancestors. Worth having, and worth hearing, but with the proviso that while you’ll enjoy Struck Down if you do listen to it, you won’t have missed out on too much if you don’t.