When The Church’s Steve Kilbey sings, a vein of Australian music history is pierced and out bleeds nostalgia, warm and familiar. On this second collaboration between Kilbey and American songwriter and guitarist Jeffery Cain, Kilbey’s idiosyncratic ‘talk-sing’ sounds better than ever.
Cain skillfully layers strings, guitar, percussion and ambient noise to hypnotic, evocative effect. The Privateer opens the record with a muted cacophony of chatter, colour and confusion before a sad and simple violin sweeps it all away. Meanwhile, anyone who’s ever loved a boozer will feel the particular pain of it spilling from Old Black Spirit. The noir-rock of Dimmer is an obvious parallel, though on Just Dust Isidore dives into swampier depths a la Kim Salmon.
[rating:3.5]
