Custom Kings At Sea by: Steve Scully Mon:10-Dec-07 Label: Liberation Year: 2007 WB rating 84 out of 100

Custom Kings’ At Sea was forged in the same fire as some of Australia’s most ingenious music. From the southern suburbs of Melbourne, at Martin St Studios, where producer genii Chris Thompson and Steve Schram fiddle away at their mixing desk until all hours of the morning, brilliant albums continue to emerge. Years ago, Augie March’s flawless Sunset Studies was moulded there, as were live recordings by Aussie greats Nick Cave and Silverchair. Now, there’s a new dawn in that pokey little Brighton house, with bands from all over town venturing to have their work sculpted and shined by the duo of Thompson and Schram, and of all these bands Custom Kings may have been the most successful.

Radio play may not mean anything to the serious ones within the musical profession, but surely it’s a sign of something great when your advance-release single is on top rotation immediately upon falling into the hands of radio executives. This was the case with At Sea’s opening track, the taut, lush ‘Up Late’. All hand-claps and white-boy rap, the band’s blues and roots beginnings sit in perfect harmony with the reggae and pop influences, with the bass lively amid the otherwise stringent rhythmic framework. If there’s any inkling of a misstep about this track, it’s the timing of its release: it would most certainly have been the song of the summer if released then. But otherwise, it’s foot-tapping, pop-rock brilliance.

The album continues at a wonderfully laid-back pace with ‘Red Sails’ providing the perfect aural companion to the summer pleasures of beer on the taste buds and sun on your face. The mariachi horns make a stunning appearance, and the track’s chorus is a full, layered affair, achingly smooth. The album has few flaws, the band consistently building their melodic elements around rhythmic bases. A prime example of this is ‘Number One’, its delicate string licks and inventive production echoing the silkiness of many chart-topping US artists, whilst keeping the understated, relaxed vibe that makes the band both accessible and credible. ‘Hot Shot Boogie’ is perfect nostalgia, with Melbourne outfit and fellow Schram-produced band Little Red lending a hand with their trademark vocal harmonies. It’s testament to the skill of Custom Kings that they have created an album with so many connections between songs, from rock to reggae to hip-hop, the band switches genres and cover them with great ease and style.

At Sea is a cruise ship soundtrack like no other. With attitude to match their aloofness, and enough inventiveness to counter any genre-based constraints, they take you on a ride that won’t leave you vomiting into the ocean and green in the face. Instead, expect to be lulled into a near vegetative state by the smooth rhythms and the soft touch of the horns. Hooks galore, At Sea is perhaps the best pop album produced by an Australian outfit this year, and takes the mantle from Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males’ 2006 Drowning in the Fountain of Youth as this summer’s ideal aural indulgence.