Rolling Stone Australia September 2017

September, 2017 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 83

David Rawlings
Poor David’s Almanack
Acony ★★★★½
Trad. country-folk master tills the
fertile fi eld of Americana anew

Rawlings’ third solo outing
finds him and indispensable
collaborator Gillian Welch
continuing in their alchemical
quest to breathe fresh life into
the sounds of Harry Smith’s
seminal Anthology of American
Folk Music (1952) – from Appa-
lachian folk (hill country nurs-
ery rhyme “Lindsey Button”) to
the prairie (the jaunty “Come
O n O v e r My Hou s e ” ). S p a n n i ng
banjo-anchored ditty “Money is
the Meat in the Coconut” to the
brooding folk-rock splendour
of the CSNY-like “Cumberland
Gap”, it’s yet another master-
ful demonstration of enigmatic
backwoods poeticism, techni-
cal mastery, and eternal song-
craft. G.H.

Fountaineer

Greater City, Greater Love

1825 Records ★★★★

Bendigo synth-pop trio deliver a

fraught hometown portrait

Fountaineer’s self-described

“regional-basketball-stadi-

um-rock” splits the diff erence

between LNZNDRF (“Still

Life”), the Killers (“Some Bright

Sparks”), and Ultravox circa

1978. Greater City is a richly-
      textured DIY adventure con-
      ceived as both love song to Ben-
      digo (“Grand Old Flags”), and
      a reaction to small town jingo-
      ism (the ELO-leaning “Words
      With Friends”). Rousing open-
      er “Sirens (Parts 1 & 2)” seems
      to condense all the feeling of the
      National’s High Violet into a sin-
      gle track while centrepiece “The
      Cricketers” is an indie-pop med-
      itation on growing up in a re-
      gional centre. Fountaineer are
      synth-pop stylists to watch. G.H.

The Creases

Tremolow Liberation ★★★

Percolating power pop detours

into UK nostalgia

No strangers to brisk guitar-pop

earworms, the Creases front-

load their debut LP with a crest-

ing chorus on punchy opener

“Answer To”. The synth-streaked

“Do What U Wanna” and fuzzi-

ly propulsive “Something’s Gotta

Break” follow suit at album’s

end, but the Brisbane quartet

spend much of the interim in-

dulging a soft spot for yesteryear

Britpop. Beyond echoes of early

Blur (“It’s Alright”), the Verve

(“At Last You Find”) and even

Cast (“Everybody Knows”), “Is

It L o v e ” g o e s f u l l P r i m a l S c r e a m

with horns, wah licks, backup

singers and a very baggy beat. Of

course, the Creases are at their

best on those thrilling book-

ends, when they sound most like

themselves. DOUG WALLEN

Downtown Boys

Cost of Living Sub Pop ★★★½

Political punk rock brought into

razor-sharp focus on third LP

Not taking into account their

liberal use of saxophone, Rhode

Island’s Downtown Boys come

across as a punk rock, political

Pixies: Victoria Ruiz has the

raw mania of Black Francis at

his most unhinged, even occa-

sionally singing in manic Span-

ish (“Somos Chulas (No Somos

Pendejas)”). Produced by Fu-

gazi’s Guy Picciotto, Cost of Liv-

ing is a pummelling “fuck you”

to whatever injustice the band

sets its unf linching gaze on,

whether it’s structures built to

keep people apart (“A Wall”) or

being wilfully denied a seat at

the table (“Promissory Note”).

The unrelenting abrasiveness

on show dulls the impact slight-

ly, yet it remains a searing sonic

wake-up call. JAMES JENNINGS

Thecatharticintensitythat

Shane Nicholson invested in his

2015 record Hell Breaks Loose –

the ‘divorce album’ that is argu-

ably his fi nest work – meant that

following it up was going to be a challenging

business. Where to go after such stark person-

al confessions and such a creative highpoint?

The upheaval with ex-wife Kasey Chambers

is now in his rear-view mirror, thus this album

is more outward-looking and even humorous

in lyrical sentiment. Nicholson has mostly put

aside the sparse acoustic balladry (the pleas-

ant “All I Know” being an exception) in favour

of up-tempo, instrumentally busy, occasionally

bombastic adult-rock. Indeed, Springsteen-ish

opener “Safe” is a dead-ringer for something

from Ryan Adams’ latter-day 1980s-influ-

enced albums.

Always one for a good chorus, Nichol-

son wheels out some unsubtle but catchy an-

thems with “Driving Me Mad” and “God’s

Own Army”, yet overall there isn’t quite the

songwriting prowess of Hell Breaks Loose,

what with the odd f lat filler track (“Busted

Lip”) as well as the downright insipid (“Hotel

Radio”). The best moments come with the

pacey, plugged-in country-rock – “Song For a

Sad Girl” has certain fl avours of Steve Earle,

while “Even If You Were the One”, with its

Bryan Adams feel, shows off Nicholson’s un-

doubted melodic gifts. Despite the comedown

in quality, he remains one of Australia’s most

sincere singer-songwriters. BARNABY SMITH

Avey Tare
EucalyptusDomino★★★½
Animal Collective frontman
pushes boundaries on solo LP

Avey Tare (aka Dav id Por tner
of Animal Collective) describes
Eucalyptusas an “electroacous-
tic movement” intended to be
listened to as a whole. The result
is a sprawling, elemental sound-
scape that draws on the tex-
tures and sounds of the natural
world. On psychedelic opener
“Season High”, brushed acous-
tic guitar and Portner’s hushed
vocal are painted with delight-
ful digital bloops that eventu-
ally coalesce into a hymn-like
formation. There is some clar-
ity amid the haze (“Roamer”),
and though on paper Eucalyp-
tus sounds dense, in the deft
hands of Portner it gently re-
veals itself to be more than just
a vanity project. SARAH SMITH

Shane Nicholson Love and Blood

Universal ★★★

Nicholson’s

New Outlook

Album number 10 from ever-

evolving country stalwart