GRATITUDE AND GRIEF (Kin/Universal) 8/10 The dichotomy could not be wider, and yet it is exactly this that makes the album work so well. Firstly Michael Leunig reads one of his picture-of-innocence, charm-laden, spell-casting poems in his uniquely lugubrious way, and then that same poem is set to music and…
Category: Album Reviews
NIM DONG (Art As Catharsis) 9/10 This has such diverse influences at work that it could easily have become like a dish with too many ingredients and no restraint in the spicing. Instead it casts a spell all its own. The opening title track is already attractive enough, but in…
BODY (Fish of Milk) 8/10 This is like opening the door on a gig already underway: an instant groove of sparse bass (Lloyd Swanton), cymbal-bell and an intermittent backbeat (Tony Buck). Over this snake unpredictable rivulets of piano (Chris Abrahams) that sink into the groove like water into sand, occasionally…