Rolling Stone Australia — July 2017

“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