Rolling Stone Australia — June 2017

Ju ne, 2017 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 81

Robyn Hitchcock
Robyn Hitchcock
Yep Roc Records ★★★★
Pop maestro’s melodic edge and
psychedelic vision are undimmed

After 45 years expanding Eng-
land’s psychedelic frontier to
Nashville, Robyn Hitchcock’s
21st album sparkles with the
keen visions and vibrant musi-
cality of a raring debutant. Not
that a neophyte could hope to
evince the sly confi dence of the
riff -slinging opener, “I Want to
Tell You About What I Want”.
Nor take Woolfe, Plath, Shelley,
Eighties cop shows and the year
1970 as signposts in his grand
conceptual stride. From the
high noon confession of “Sayo-
nara Judge” to the blissful rev-
erie of “Time Coast”, the master
tunesmith continues to imagine
through “Autumn Sunglasses”
the endless possibilities of John
Lennon and Syd Barrett. M.D.

Perfume Genius

No Shape Remote Control

★★★★

More sumptuous, sophisticated

pop from Seattle’s golden boy

2014’s To o B r i g h t saw the art-

ist also known as Mike Hadreas

combine songwriting prowess

with cutting social awareness,

confirming him as a genuine-

ly original, idiosyncratic voice.

His fourth LP is less ideological-

ly charged yet just as powerful.

Some eclectic production rang-

es from the polished, Prince-like

“Sides” to the electronic mini-

malism of “Go Ahead”, and even

lo-fi ‘folk’ on “Valley”. Hadreas’s

melodic turns remain subtle,

with some songs requiring ex-

tensive listening to be proper-

ly revealed, while his vocals in-

creasingly feature a winsome

quiver comparable with Anoh-

ni. Heartfelt, contemporary and

very beautiful. BARNABY SMITH

Day Wave

The Days We Had

I OH YOU/Liberator ★★★

Oakland dream-pop polymath

makes a mixed debut

Jackson Phillips births his fi rst

LP as DW to ample buzz. Surf-

ing a tide of fuzzed-out gui-

tars, lucent synths and skeletal

basslines seemingly borrowed

from Peter Hook, much of the

album is intractably summery,

in the same way that lense-

f lare, overexposure, and per-

vasive languor are ‘summery’

(“On Your Side”) – the reigning

drowsiness underscored by Phil-

lips’ penchant for hammering

a vocal refrain into the ground

(“Home”). Phillips never quite

achieves the penetrating hon-

esty of fellow DIY-fuzznick Mi-

chelle Zauner (Japanese Break-

fast), but when he imports some

genuine DIIV-like urgency, he’s

hypnotising (“Promises”). G.H.

Clowns

Lucid Again

Poison City ★★★★

Melbourne punks up the ante,

craft their masterwork

Clowns’ third LP is an intricate

document of the shape punk fi -

nally came in. Gleefully brutal

riff s sit side-by-side with melod-

icism, patience, countless fi lthy

prog-punk moments and insou-

ciant throat-shredding. Nine

tracks in 43 minutes bucks tra-

ditional punk standards, and it

fl ows impressively through “Like

a Knife At a Gunfi ght” and the

muscly “Pickle”, calmly picking

its spots to deliver nuggets of

pure punk-rock energy like “De-

stroy the Evidence”. By the time

Lucid Again closes out with the

epic punk jam “Not Coping”, it’s

hard to argue against Clowns

having created one of the best

rock – not ‘just’ punk – albums

of the year. JAYMZ CLEMENTS

Kasabian have fallen back

in love with guitar. Or so

says songwriter Serge Piz-

zorno, who has described

the Leicester band’s sixth

album as a reaction to the middling sonic

experimentation of 2014’s 48:13. The re-

sult is quintessential K asabian: 12 ready-made

festival anthems pinned together with the

DNA of English music greats.

Setting the mood for a record that is steeped

in nostalgia, opener “III Ray (The King)” re-

calls the shuffl ing dance-punk of the group’s

mid-00s work. With rattling castanets and

melodic “oohs”, standout “Good Fight” is an

earmworm-y nod to 1960s British pop. Simi-

larly, the acoustic “Put Your Life On It” echoes

the rapturous slow build of “Hey Jude”; culmi-

nating in a soaring one-minute outro on which

Tom Meighan’s uncharacteristically honeyed

vocals are elevated by a gospel choir. While pop

rock is the band’s driving force here, they don’t

entirely abandon their ravetronica roots either

• see the baggy eight-minute “Are You Look-
  ing For Action”.
  Gone are the clumsy attempts at social com-
  mentary that missed the mark on 48:13, re-
  placed here by more familiar tales of romance
  and excess. On For Crying Out Loud Kasabian
  champion escapism through any means: love,
  partying, or rock & roll. SARAH SMITH

San Cisco
The WaterIsland City★★★½

Fremantle indie quartet return
with sun-drenched, beachy pop

Forabandwhosebreakoutsin-
gle was titled “Awkward” (2012),
San Cisco have an uncanny
knack for the easygoing. Their
third studio album is brimming
with sunshiny pep: chirpy synth
adds multi-coloured splotch-
es of sound to crunchy guitar
chords and gently grooving bass
lines. “Kids Are Cool” kicks off
the good vibes, “The Distance”
injects some funk, and club
tune “SloMo” is anything but.
As the LP continues consisten-
cy starts to turn into predict-
ability, blurring together some
cheery, if forgettable, tracks.
However, an album so blatant-
ly feel-good earns forgiveness
easier than most, so don’t over-
think it. JESSIE CUNNIFFE

Kasabian For Crying Out Loud Sony

★★★½

Guitars Set

To S t u n

Kasabian champion escapism

through any means on sixth LP