Posted: 29th October 2007
10 (B-)
Best Song: The Frustrated Writer
1. Not So Innocent 2. The Road That We Both Travel 3. You and I 4. Fading Out 5. Lady Luck 6. Long Way Home 7. The Frustrated Writer 8. I Know You 9. You Will Save Me 10. Fall in the Haze 11. Inside Your Words + Song for Vi
Darren Middleton probably doesn't need to work in additional bands to feed his family. He could probably comfortably spend his time trimming his nasal hair, or sitting around in his underwear eating peanut butter, or whatever rock stars do in their spare time (Gardening? Letters to the Editor? Making a spice rack?). But I'm glad he brought this album out, since the Gas Food Lodging EP was pretty spiffy, and he showed a fair bit songwriting skill. Too bad then, when I originally found this album a tad disappointing. It just didn't measure up to the aforementioned EP and the pedastal I'd stuck it on.
Fortunately, it did grow on me. Ok, it's not really amazing; some of the songs are a tad unremarkable and maybe same-y, but it's pretty solid and none of the songs are teh suck, which helps. It's mostly mid-tempo pop-rock songs, mixed with some slower, pretty ballads. Everything's tastefully arranged, and there's always nice melodies and harmonies. Occasionally there's a few interesting touches too, and keyboardist Matt Murphy has a larger presence, resulting in a fair bit of electronic noise and loops throughout.
We all know Drag really don't rock, but they come close: on You and I and I Know You the band almost turn into vicious rockers (no, not at all). The former has a cool keyboard tone, and a driving, distorted chorus, while the later chugs along nicely. Seriously, if you really want rock, look elsewhere. Like a Taxiride album. *snickers*. At the other end of the spectrum, there's a few nice ballads to be found. Probably the best ballad is the piano driven album opener, Not So Innocent, which comes complete with electronic noises and weird ambience. It's really lovely, though the album's hidden song, Song for Vi, which is just Middleton on guitar backed by some organ, is a real close contender. It's almost like a love letter to his wife and a personal confession, and it closes the album exceedingly well on a quiet, sincere note.
However, the best song on the album is the utterly bonkers The Frustrated Writer, which is loaded with brass and strings. It's ridiculously bombastic, but it's pulled off really well, with some nutso brass and string arrangements flying all over the place. Love it! It's easily the most interesting thing on the album, and yes, it's an ode to writers block. There's a few other minor oddities: Lady Luck's intro is based around the same chords as Powderfinger's Love Your Way, but it doesn't sound much like the aforementioned song and concludes in a triumphant mess of horns. And because I'm a crackpot, Long Way Home seems like a mad scientist experiment to cross of the piano and guitar solo from The Beatles Let It Be, and those harmonies from Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road together. Result: a rather sappy, but decent song.
The rest of the stuff is all fairly nice. None of it sucks, but sometimes there's just too many mid-tempo songs. Looking at the songs individually, they're all pretty good though. I like the lead into The Road We Both Travel's chorus, and the chorus itself is decent. Fading Out has nice slide guitar and a moody chorus. You Will Save Me is enjoyably dark. Inside Your Words is a slighty psychedelic mini-epic with horns. The minimal Fall in the Haze is a pretty, slow-paced acoustic ballad. Etc, etc, etc.
All up, it's certainly not earth-shattering, but they don't embarrass themselves with anything hideously bad either. This one gets awarded a middling-to-high 10 for being "pleasant, but doesn't have any songs or melodies that are flatout brilliant". Heck, they probably could make the album a bit more diverse tempo-wise too. But the songs are nice, the ballads are pretty and The Frustrated Writer is oh-so exceedingly cool. Overall, it's good album and I don't mind it at all.
Fortunately, it did grow on me. Ok, it's not really amazing; some of the songs are a tad unremarkable and maybe same-y, but it's pretty solid and none of the songs are teh suck, which helps. It's mostly mid-tempo pop-rock songs, mixed with some slower, pretty ballads. Everything's tastefully arranged, and there's always nice melodies and harmonies. Occasionally there's a few interesting touches too, and keyboardist Matt Murphy has a larger presence, resulting in a fair bit of electronic noise and loops throughout.
We all know Drag really don't rock, but they come close: on You and I and I Know You the band almost turn into vicious rockers (no, not at all). The former has a cool keyboard tone, and a driving, distorted chorus, while the later chugs along nicely. Seriously, if you really want rock, look elsewhere. Like a Taxiride album. *snickers*. At the other end of the spectrum, there's a few nice ballads to be found. Probably the best ballad is the piano driven album opener, Not So Innocent, which comes complete with electronic noises and weird ambience. It's really lovely, though the album's hidden song, Song for Vi, which is just Middleton on guitar backed by some organ, is a real close contender. It's almost like a love letter to his wife and a personal confession, and it closes the album exceedingly well on a quiet, sincere note.
However, the best song on the album is the utterly bonkers The Frustrated Writer, which is loaded with brass and strings. It's ridiculously bombastic, but it's pulled off really well, with some nutso brass and string arrangements flying all over the place. Love it! It's easily the most interesting thing on the album, and yes, it's an ode to writers block. There's a few other minor oddities: Lady Luck's intro is based around the same chords as Powderfinger's Love Your Way, but it doesn't sound much like the aforementioned song and concludes in a triumphant mess of horns. And because I'm a crackpot, Long Way Home seems like a mad scientist experiment to cross of the piano and guitar solo from The Beatles Let It Be, and those harmonies from Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road together. Result: a rather sappy, but decent song.
The rest of the stuff is all fairly nice. None of it sucks, but sometimes there's just too many mid-tempo songs. Looking at the songs individually, they're all pretty good though. I like the lead into The Road We Both Travel's chorus, and the chorus itself is decent. Fading Out has nice slide guitar and a moody chorus. You Will Save Me is enjoyably dark. Inside Your Words is a slighty psychedelic mini-epic with horns. The minimal Fall in the Haze is a pretty, slow-paced acoustic ballad. Etc, etc, etc.
All up, it's certainly not earth-shattering, but they don't embarrass themselves with anything hideously bad either. This one gets awarded a middling-to-high 10 for being "pleasant, but doesn't have any songs or melodies that are flatout brilliant". Heck, they probably could make the album a bit more diverse tempo-wise too. But the songs are nice, the ballads are pretty and The Frustrated Writer is oh-so exceedingly cool. Overall, it's good album and I don't mind it at all.