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October, 2017 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 81

The Ocean Party
Beauty PointSpunk★★★★
Songwriters draw strength from
youthful uncertainty

Seven albums in, the Ocean
Party are no closer to having all
theanswers.“Tellmewhereto
go,” repeats “Cracked and Shat-
tering”. Yet the Melbourne gui-
tar-popensemblearemoreas-
suredthaneverbefore.Theirsix
songwriters stretch beyond their
usual delicate, gleaming melo-
dies, evoking Springsteen-esque
soul-searching on the verses of
“MoretoRun”.“Strike”name-
checks human rights and “Con-
crete” lopes ahead with stub-
born momentum, while tunes
like “If I Blink” add welcome
ripples of volatility to the band’s
smooth veneer. As for what these
guys have learnt from their 20s,
this line says it all: “They’re my
mistakesandI’llmakethem,
greatasIwant.” DOUG WALLEN

Mikhael Paskalev

HeavyDew Process★★★½

Norwegian indie-pop chameleon

shifts decades on sophomore LP

Fast-forwarding from the doo-

wop- and- Sixties folk/psychede-

lia-influenced sounds ofWhat’s

Life Without Losers(2013), Pa s-

kalev’ssecondoutingdrawslust-

ilyonSeventiesandEighties

glam,synth-popandItalodisco,

anddeliversalittlemorecohe-

sion with its relatively tighter

sonic grouping. “Witness” re-

callsSplitEnz;thealbum’sback-

end frequently conjures ELO

circaTime(1981); and loung i-

er entries align Paskalev with

Mild High Club (“Burn”). The

singer’selastic,nasalkeenisas

distinctive as ever. Inhabiting

his indie oddball persona with

compelling confidence, Paska-

levismorethancapableofpros-

ecuting a rousing melodic run

(“Needles”). GARETH HIPWELL

Alvvays

AntisocialitesPod★★★★

Thrilling dream-pop spiked with

expert putdowns

On their whiplashing second

album, Canadian quartetAl-

vvaysperfecttheslypairing

of frontwoman Molly Rankin’s

swooning sigh and droll tongue-

lashings. “What’s left for you and

me?/I ask that question rhetor-

ically”shequipsonnoise-swept

opener “In Undertow”, while

“Not My Baby” celebrates her in-

dependence from the song’s sub-

ject. Beyond the familiar head

rush of reverb and distortion,

the band flex their increasing

varietyviatheexcitablepsych

twinges of “Hey” and the neon-

traced Eighties reverie “Dreams

Tonite”. Restoring a crashing,

dashing edge to dream-pop’s ef-

fervescent warmth,Antisocial-

iteswrings prickly anthems out

of everyday disillusionment.D.W.

Ringo Starr

Give More LoveUniversal

★★★

GuyfromtheBeatleswantsto

keep going. Is there a problem?

“Got up this mornin’, packed my

bags/Headedforthestudio to

finishthistrack.”He’snotcom-

plicated, our Ringo, but he’s not

calling stumps either. Would

you? That’s Paul McCartney,

JoeWalsh,EdgarWinterand

Steve Lukather stoking the rock

&rollengineroomof“We’re

On the Road Again”. Peter

Frampton pops up on “Speed

of Sound”, Dave Stewart helps

him indulge his love for corn-

ball country on “So Wrong For

SoLong”,andhegetstopay a

mawkish reggae tribute to Bob

Marley in “King of the King-

dom”.Andsaywhatyoulike

about old guys with their home

ProTools studios, but he’s never

sung more tunefully. M.D.

There’s a lot of sleep on this

album, from fi rst single “The Sys-

tem Only Dreams In Total Dark-

ness” to a thick, abstract title

track swimming in murmured

mystery. The former is sewn with serrated rock

guitar. “Turtleneck” and “Day I Die” are the kind

of mad, scrambling eruptions that tend to have

frontman Matt Berninger leaping from the stage

to stand on your chair.

But the Dessner brothers’ guitars are mostly

muted this time in favour of more synthesised

loops for the singer’s anxious, dream-state poet-

ry to climb, his voice as sweet as caramel and as

loaded as an open diar y. Stately, stumbling piano

chords frame the croaked conversations – with

himself, or someone else who’s slipping away

• of “Nobody Else Will Be There” and “Born To
  Beg”. The opening accusation of “Guilty Party” –
  “You’re sleeping night and day” – echoes “Empire
  Line”: “You’ve been sleepin’ for miles”.

The dream turns dark in “Walk It Back”, an

inner monologue woven with the voice of former

presidential adviser Karl Rove laying down his

Orwellian spiel about the mutability of reality.

Untangling the threads of meaning, emotion;

personal and political is another long-term pros-

pect for fans of this ex traordinar y band’s elegant

chemistry. The irresistible, off -kilter scaff olds of

drummer Bryan Devendorf, and the slow dawn

of one glorious melody after another, will keep

you plenty occupied meanwhile. MICHAEL DWYER

Kim Churchill
Weight_FallsWa r ner★★★½
Singer-songwriter backs up with
solid pop gem

Kim Churchill’s fifth album,
2014’s Silence/Win, was the re-
cord that fi nally brought him
widespread acclaim. Weight
Falls, then, is almost that dif-
fi cult second record – and dif-
fi cult it was. Churchill had an
album recorded and due for
release, when he scrapped it
and went back to the drawing
board. A week later he came up
with this, and the results are
solid. Essentially a pop album,
Weight Falls ebbs and fl ows,
the requisite amount of light
and shade present as Churchill,
still touching on his rootsy
background, creates sonic land-
scapes that belie their rushed
creation. SAMUEL J. FELL

The National Sleep Well Beast

4AD / Remote Control ★★★★

The National’s Deep Beast

Less guitars, more disquiet on

poetic Ohio band’s seventh