Rolling Stone Australia September 2017

Tradingtheredclayrock&rolltexturesof

Nashville excursionBlackbird(2014) for

more manicured production leaning on

synths and drum programming (see the sput-

tering electronic snicks of “Cul-de-sac”), Sul-

tan’s fourth long-player is a marked departure from his ear-

lier blues-and-roots-oriented incarnations.

Fromthehard-hittingdrumtriggeringofopener“Drov-

er”–aself-describedprequeltoPaulKellyandKevCar-

mody’s anthemic “From Little Things Big Things Grow”

• it’s clear that Sultan has distilled some fresh ideas from
  recent forays into urban territory, including last year’s col-
  laborationwithA.B.Original(“January26”).
  Produced by Jan Skubiszewski (Cat Empire) and fea-
  turinginputfromaslewofcollaboratorsincludingSparka-
  dia’s Alex Burnett and Julian Hamilton (the Presets),Kill-
  er’s neo-soul trajectory positions Sultan alongside the likes
  ofSaskwatchandtheCactusChannel.Withitsclipped,ur-
  bane guitar tones, “Killer” is a striking intersection of style
  and substance, while urgent, Gospel-soul entry “Magnet-
  ic” soars on an updraft of sweeping strings, and “Reac-
  tion”prosecutesanirresistiblelate-nitedancefloorgroove.
  Throughout, the album’s Gospel-hued choral BVs and con-
  cern with Indigenous issues chime with the work of the
  BlackArmBand,ofwhichSultanisamember(seethepo-
  litically-charged “Kingdom”).
  Sultan himself is, as ever, a vocalist of uncommon, pro-
  digiously soulful cool (“Fire Under Foot”).Killeris eloquent
  proofhehasthesongwritingchopstomatch.GARETH HIPWELL

Gordi

ReservoirLiberation★★★★

Anthems rise from melancholia

on Sydney-sider’s debut album

Shadowy electronica and me-

lodic dissonance meet inRes-

ervoir, the slow-burning re-

cord from Sophie Payten, AKA

Gordi. A textural pastiche, the

album veers from polyrhyth-

micsynthspairedagainstwarm

bass lines to moments of subtle

vulnerability,wherevocalsare

leftbare.“HeavenIKnow”jux-

taposes harmonious bliss with

organic, horn-led counter-mel-

odiesthatfeelvaguelyunset-

tling though never out of place.

An acoustic duet with S. Carey

(“I’m Done”) is a welcome nod

toGordi’searlyinfluencesJames

Taylor and Carole King. The re-

cord’santhemicchargedoeswell

toavoidmelancholicindulgence,

but at times misses the restraint

so aptly captured elsewhere.S.S.

Cage the Elephant

UnpeeledSony★★★½

Mature,accomplishedliveset

from Kentucky sextet

Despitefoursolidalbumsofro-

bustrock&roll,CagetheEle-

phant are best experienced live.

These21tracksarenot,how-

ever,indicativeoftheexplosive

showsthatmadetheirreputa-

tion, instead they come from

arecentacoustictourandfea-

tureastringquartet.Theresult

isasurprisinglyexcellentcollec-

tion, the new context bringing a

refreshingsenseofvulnerabili-

ty to a once quite brattish band.

The strings are most effective

on “Too Late To Say Goodbye”,

while the intoxicating swagger

of “Cry Baby” and “Ain’t No Rest

For the Wicked” is not dulled.

Singer Matt Shultz’s impressive

emotionalrangecapsoffthat

rarething:ahighlysatisfying

live album. BARNABY SMITH

Ghostpoet

Dark Days + Canapés

PIAS★★★★½

Mercury Prize-nominated British

MC cuts timely masterpiece

Where South London-born

Obaro Ejimiwe’s first two al-

bums explored ambiguous, sur-

real themes over prickly elec-

tronic instrumentation, 2015’s

Shedding Skinadopted a more

tangible guitar-and-keys ap-

proach.Dark Days + Canapés

picks up where that Mercury

Prize-nominatedrecordleftoff.

Neverquiterapping,neverquite

singing, the genre-defying MC

invites listeners on a spine-tin-

gling, head-nodding ride into

his psyche. It’s Roots Manu-

va meets Radiohead. All over

thisrecord,infact,Ghostpo-

etmanagestobetwothingsat

once: inviting and confronting;

thoughtful and obscure; bril-

liant and understated. O.P.

EMA

ExileIntheOuterRing

City Slang/Inertia★★★★

U.S. noise howler’s latest descent

into dystopia

ErikaM.Andersonboastedthat

Matador refused to release her

thirdLPbecauseitwas“toopo-

litical”.ExileIntheOuterRing

is BAU for EMA: summoning

an All-American hellscape via

talesofmisfitsonthefigura-

tive/literal fringes set to dark,

tortured, uneasy music. On her

astonishing debut, 2011’sPast

Life Martyred Saints, Ander-

sonsang“I’mjust22/Idon’t

mind dying”; here she’s “33, ni-

hilistic and female”, her songs

filledwithdrugs,disenchant-

ment, distortion, noise guitar.

The industrial influence from

2014’s techno-paranoidThe Fu-

ture’s Voidlingers, but Ander-

sonstripsawaytheclutter,her

irelefttosoundoutclear. A.C.

Dan SultanKillerLiberation★★★★

Dan Sultan’s

Sonic Side-Step

Fitzroy’s own world-beating rock’n’soul man

stages a winning neo-soul reinvention

September, 2017

Reviews

82 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com