The Steinbecks - Kick To Kick With The Steinbecks (Matinee
Records)
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| The Steinbecks - Kick To Kick |
Release Date: 22nd April 2014
When I was a kid, I always wanted
to live in a lighthouse like the one on the cover of the new album from
Australian band the Steinbecks. Then I watched antipodean kids show Round The
Twist which was, frankly, mental and I haven't looked at a lighthouse the same
way twice. Still, I never judge an album by its cover (Christ, the White Album
would be screwed if I did) so let's give these guys a fair listen.
'Homesickness' is the first track and it doesn't immediately grab you as the
guitars are non-descript and the vocals seem naively high in the mix which puts
me off. 'At Arkaroo Rock' has the same production quality issues so I'm going
to try to ignore that and focus on the music which, in this case, is very much
Crowded House-lite with some pleasing guitar twangs. On the third track,
however, things get a little more interesting with the marvellously titled 'We
Cannot Hope To Compete With Such Colours' which has a more lively riff and
vocals with a nice delay effect throughout the song.
There's a bluesy, swampy feel to
'Below The Limen' which makes great use of some organ sounds while 'Semblance
Of Hope' is a gentle ballad with some ill-advised vocal pitching towards the
end. It sounds like I'm getting at the singer here but it frustrates me that
nobody has had a word with him during the recording of this album. Ironically,
on the next track, 'I, Radio', the singing is pretty much given away in
preference of spoken word for a song that flirts with Elvis Costello and
Talking Heads. 'Cold Little Bones' is a Mandolin centred melody that never
really gathers the pace or emotion you hope it might but then 'Trying To Be
Someone' pops in to life with a lively indie rhythm to get things moving again.
'Through The Curtain' is another fairly unremarkable indie track despite the commendable
use of keys and penchant for stopping and starting the melody over and over
again.
There then follows a slightly odd
decision which is to have 'Burning Holes In The Sun', a four minute track with
some nice riffs and rhythms taking centre stage for a change, followed by
'Burning Holes In The Sun (Reprise)', another four minutes of instrumental
music based on the same motif - odd. 'Kick To Kick' finishes the album off but
does nothing to change my mind on this as a collection of songs. There's
nothing wrong with these songs, per se, it's just that none of them stick in
the memory and the vocal performances don't make for enjoyable listening which
is a shame as I was hoping for something good from the Aussies.
More information: http://thesteinbecks.net.au/
Buy The Album: matineerecordings.com
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