Album reviews

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This article was published 31/10/2024 (705 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rock

Amyl and the Sniffers

Cartoon Darkness (Virgin)

Since bursting onto the scene like a gang of feral punk children, Australia’s Amyl and the Sniffers have moved from strength to strength, riding on Amy Taylor’s righteous, empowering lyrics and the band‘s raunchy take on the Australian rock ’n’ roll tradition of ear-splitting guitar and pummelling rhythms — played at any and all speeds. Taylor is a bona fide rock star, and after the whirlwind of attention that accompanied the past five years, she takes on the sexist, misogynist attacks she’s faced and throws them right back in the faces of whoever dared try to take her down. Opening track Jerkin’ is a foul-mouthed flip off to online haters, while U Should Not Be Doing That is a sinewy, danceable “So what?” to those who ever doubted the band.

4-1/2 out of five stars

Stream: Jerkin’; U Should Not Be Doing That

 

Chuck Prophet

Wake the Dead (Yep Roc)

California songwriter Chuck Prophet made his name as a member of Green on Red, which leaned hard into roots rock/alt-country scene in the 1980s. Since then, his music career has been peripatetic, prolific and often profound. He’s worked as a songwriter, sideman, producer and solo artist in all sorts of configurations and with legendary players from Warren Zevon to Jim Dickinson to Alejandro Escovedo. Since signing with Yep Roc 15 years ago, Prophet’s slices of social commentary and sardonic observation have rightly been hailed as deceptively effortless. Wake the Dead’s a little different — as it features cumbia band ¿Qiensave? playing with Prophet’s band the Mission Express, and its songs reflect the mortal reckoning he faced during a lymphoma scare a couple of years ago.

Four out of five stars

Stream: A Good Day to Be Alive; Wake the Dead

– John Kendle

 

The Cure

Songs of a Lost World (Fiction)

You might think that after being silent for 16 years, the Cure would be in a rush to get things going. Think again. It takes over three minutes of opening track Alone before we finally hear Robert Smith’s voice. the Cure are back, but definitely on their terms.

The eight-track album Songs of a Lost World is lush and deeply orchestral, swelling and powerful, with often several minutes of instruments jamming before any singing.

There are melancholic and mournful lyrics that confront mortality and wonder where time went. “I’m outside in the dark/Wondering/How I got so old,” Smith sings in the last, sprawling, heartbreaking song.

None of the tunes are under four minutes and the last one saunters past 10. In an era when music is fashioned for microbursts on TikTok, Smith is disinterested. He lets songs take their time, unrushed and able to breath, the beauty of the melodies and instruments leading the way.

One of the highlights is I Can Never Say Goodbye, in which a simple, insistent piano noodle is surrounded by fluttering guitar work as Smith comes to terms with his brother’s death. The band also goes cinematic with And Nothing Is Forever, which has an Aaron Copland bright orchestral vibe, while Warsong is a dissonant, spiky downer that concludes “We are born to war.”

We are in an era of ’80s bands re-emerging like cicadas — Tears for Fears, Crowded House, Pet Shop Boys and Duran Duran, among them — but Songs of a Lost World is no attempt to recapture past glories. It is a huge step forward. It is the Cure’s best album since Disintegration. Hopefully, there will be more.

Four out of five stars

Stream: I Can Never Say Goodbye; Nothing is Forever

— Mark Kennedy

 

JAZZ

Sarah Hanahan

Among Giants (Blue Engine)

Debut albums are always fun. Often touted as “the next great one” or some other hyperbolic comment, they represent courage and risk by the artist. Alto player Sarah Hanahan’s debut is a most enjoyable glimpse into possibilities. The courage and risk are met with complete commitment. With a pretty impressive band that has Marc Cory on piano, Nat Reeves on bass, Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums and Bobby Allende on percussion, Hanahan displays wonderful energy and musicality.

The music is a mix of covers and originals, and initially exhibits a debt to Coltrane. The initial track, Welcome, is a Coltrane tune, and the next track, an original by Hanahan called Resonance, is acknowledged to be from a period when she was deeply studying Coltrane. It shows.

After those tracks, there is a strong effort to show her own voice. Covers of standards such as A House Is Not A Home and Stardust are solidly hers and she excels at any tempo. She covers the tune On The Trail in a surprising and enjoyable interpretation as a fairly obscure jazz cover. The involvement of her colleagues is terrific, with Cory anchoring several tracks and Watts driving the beat as he has been doing for decades. His solo on We Bop is great.

The track NATO adds percussion and shifting rhythms very well and is a standout track. Hanahan has been getting huge praise for this debut. For me, the promise is definitely there, but here are moments when I was aware that perhaps the focus needed a tweak.

I would still state she is someone to watch. I wait for her voice to reach its full potential. I look forward to it.

Three out of five stars

Stream: On The Trail; NATO

— Keith Black

CLASSICAL

James Ehnes & Andrew Armstrong

Play Brahms & Schumann (Onyx Classics)

Any new recording by world-renowned violinist James Ehnes and American pianist, Andrew Armstrong, always feels cause for celebration. In this case, the duo’s latest offering showcases the Brandon-born player’s versatile artistry, as he trades in his renowned Stradivarius violin for the darker toned, 1696 “Achinto” Stradivari viola (on loan from the Royal Academy of Music) in works by Brahms and Schumann.

Their first offering, Schumann’s Märchenbilder Op. 113 (Fairytale Pictures) composed in 1851, is an immediate highlight. Ehnes’s fluidly lyrical phrasing interwoven with Armstrong’s similarly eloquent piano evokes the work’s fantastical nature, from its sweeping lines heard during the opening movement through to melancholic finale. By contrast, the second movement is propelled by accented dotted rhythms, with Ehnes’s more muscular approach bringing to life its heroic nature, while the fiery third movement driven by a moto perpetuo triplet figure, juxtaposed with brief declamatory phrases, enthralls as it displays the two artists’s respective, blazing virtuosity.

Also included are Brahms’s own arrangements of his 2 Sonatas for Clarinet, Op. 120, offering a fascinating study in how he adapted his music penned for a woodwind instrument to strings. Highlights include the opening movement I. Allegro appassionato from Sonata No. 1 in F minor, as well as its Landler-like III. Allegretto grazioso, performed with lilting grace.

The album wraps up with a “bonus,” Brahms’s Wiegenlied a.k.a. his famous lullaby from 5 Lieder Op. 49, leaving listeners bathed in its tender melody while only dreaming of more releases to come from these incomparable players.

Five out of five stars

Stream: Märchenbilder Op. 113; 2 Sonatas for Clarinet, Op. 120, I. Allegro appassionato

— Holly Harris