“Lastyearwasasonofabitchfornearlyev-
eryoneweknow,”singsIsbellon“Hopethe
High Road”. We all know what he’s talking
about. In a post-Trump world it sometimes
seemsthatallthenewsisbadnews.ButIs-
bell’sglassisstillhalffull:“Whereveryouare,Ihopethe
high road leads you home again.”
Hesoundswarmerandsofterthanusual,perhapsbe-
cause he knows about second chances. On the fast track
toalcoholicoblivionasamemberofDrive-ByTruckers,
he cleaned up and made up for lost time on 2013’sSouth-
eastern,anextraordinarycollectionofsongsthatunfold-
ed like great short stories.
The Nashville Soundis not a solo album, but the new
recordwithhisgroupthe400Unit,whichmeanshegoes
wider. You can hear echoes of Ryan Adams and Bruce
Springsteen (little surprise) but also Elliott Smith and
R.E.M. (quite a surprise).
He’s also getting more personal. His protagonists find
answersinabar(“CumberlandGap”)oralovingwoman
(“Tupelo”) or “the fire in my little girl’s eyes” (“White Man’s
World”).Andon“IfWeWereVampires”heduetswiththe
400Unit’sfiddleplayerAmandaShires,whohappensto
be his wife, on a song musing on the fact that one day one
of them will die and the other will be alone. BARRY DIVOLA
Oh Wonder
UltralifeDew Process★★★★
Dreamy cohesiveness of the
highest order
What is so delightfully refresh-
ing about this London duo is
theuttereffortlessnessoftheir
music. Oh Wonder’s brand of
alt-pop is modern, beautiful-
ly crafted and often catchy as
hell, but the radio-savvy hooks
aredeliveredwithlittlefanfare,
and the songwriting seems to
take its own seamlessness for
granted. Perhaps it’s the made-
to-meld voices of Josephine
Vander Gucht and Anthony
West, or the carefully paced
tracklisting that goes from
earthy energy and quirky pop
(think Of Monsters and Men
covering Kate Miller-Heidke)
to the arresting sparseness of
“MyFriends”and“Waste”.Ei-
ther way, this dreamy, polished
albumisawinner.JESSIE CUNNIFFE
Cable Ties
Cable TiesPoison City★★★★
Marathon quests of intensity and
articulation
There’sastrikingsavageryto
guitarist Jenny McKechnie’s
lead vocals that can eclipse the
otherelementsatplayinCable
Ties.ButtheMelbournetrio
provejustashard-hittingin-
strumentally–andlyrically–
ontheirdebutLP,ploughingin-
tensely through marathon jams
fired by classic post-punk and
riot grrrl. “The Producer” skew-
ers coke-snorting knob-twist-
ers, “You Can’t Hold My Hand”
is almost danceable in its fre-
neticdrive,andthere’scrucial
openspacetobufferthevolca-
nic catharsis of “Fish Bowl”. Be-
tweenthehorizon-chasingpulse
of“WastedTime”and“Para-
dise”,CableTiesdrawusdeep-
erintoanalbumthat’sallabout
muscle with a message. D.W.
Roger Waters
IsThistheLifeWeReally
Want?Sony★★★★
Former Pink Floyd man sounds
a fiery return
RogerWatershasbeenbothone
of Pink Floyd’s biggest critics
and best ambassadors, which
is easy to do when you’ve been
touringThe Wallandhaven’tre-
leased your own rock originals
since1992.Soit’srefreshingthat
his return to the studio is both
familiar and angry. The raw,
spacious production by Nigel
GodrichbringstomindDark
SideoftheMoon,eschewingdig-
ital studio trickery in favour of
analog synths, live instrumen-
tationandtapeloops.Fuelled
by Trump-era outrage, Waters’
venomouspoliticalbarbshave
never sounded so relevant. Like
Bowie’sBlack Star,thisisanex-
citing, career-defining record
fromamaninhis70s.MATT COYTE
Richard Dawson
PeasantDomino★★★★★
Geordie bard returns with epic,
history-spanning concoction
This first post-Brexit album
fromRichardDawsoncontin-
ues the glorious distortion of
traditionalfolkformsandex-
ploration of community and
culture that made 2014’sNoth-
ing Importantsuch a visionary
work.Peasantis a coruscating,
occasionally unhinged master-
pieceusingalyricalframework
basedontheEarlyMedieval
kingdomofBernicia.Yethisire
is opaque, his social commen-
tary glimpsed through oblique
narratives. The de-tuned nylon
guitar remains his weapon of
choice, which when joined by
children’s choirs and ritualistic
handclapsproducesarelent-
less cacophony that testifies to
Dawson’s singular genius.
BARNABY SMITH
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
The Nashville SoundSpunk★★★½
Jason Isbell’s
Nashville
Sound
The Alabama songwriter goes wider
musically but takes things more personally
July, 2017
Reviews
88 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com