Judging by its recent appearance at number 11 on Triple J's chart of the one hundred greatest Australian albums of all time I'm not the only one with an enduring love for Gotye's 2006 album Like Drawing Blood. It's taken five years for Gotye (Belgian born, Melbourne based Wally De Backer) to release this follow up and it feels like a long time between drinks.
The album opens with the title track, a brief atmospheric musing on revelation and reflection that quickly gives way to Easy Way Out, a stomping, buzzy, up tempo number that conceals a world weary cynicism. Next up is the big single. Somebody That I Used to Know has been absolutely massive for Gotye, and has actually been classified Platinum by ARIA which is a rarity in this day and age. The song itself is a fiendishly clever two sided look back on the end of a relationship featuring a magnificent guest vocal from emerging artist Kimbra. After the big single is another familiar musical face, Eyes Wide Open was released as an EP last year, and got a lot of well deserved airplay, coming in at 25 in last year's Hottest 100. It's a song that sounds as wide open as the title implies with a chiming pedal steel guitar and echoing vocal. After the pair of songs that radio listeners will be familiar with there is another track from the Eyes Wide Open EP. Smoke and Mirrors, which is a dark haunting song that's lyrically vicious, although the intended target (possibly Wally himself) is not made clear.
After some dark music and dark thoughts I Feel Better is like the sun coming out from the clouds. Musically it's reminiscent of Motown era Marvin Gaye, with bright brassy stabs and a smoky soulful vocal. The good mood continues with In Your Light, a jangly, hand clapping pop song about the positive influence of love. The album then takes a very strange left turn into State of the Art, which is essentially a five minute long infomercial for a home organ, featuring a vocal so treated it's barely human.
After the commercial break we're treated to Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You. A musically dark and lyrically sinister sinuous track that is as menacing as the title suggests. Giving Me a Chance is a heartbreaking song of hope for undeserved redemption. Save Me returns to the themes of In Your Light, with a wordless choral backing vocal that fills the sound all the way to the edges. The album closes with Bronte, a touching eulogy to the family dog.
I've liked both of Gotye's previous albums a lot. His cut and paste sample rich song writing method has always been rich and textured. What I wasn't prepared for was just how much he's grown. The song writing on this album is streets ahead of his previous two albums. Every genre he tries his hand at seems to bend willingly, and nothing seems out of place. Even things that on paper sound like bizarre ideas (most notably State of the Art) are so artfully carried out that you can't help but admire them.
Wally's also becoming more at ease with his voice. Where on previous albums the vocal has been treated, layered, and multi tracked, here it is more frequently left flying loud and proud at the centre of the mix. A smooth, slightly smoky, soulful voice that is better than he thinks it is.
The choice of instruments, and the sheer amount of time that must have been spent getting the sounds exactly right does a lot to explain the five years between albums (although with drumming duties in Melbourne's '60s revivalists The Basics it's not like Wally has been entirely absent from the music scene during that time). Everything from samples of old records, to recordings of a musical fence (no, really) has gone into the mix to create the intricate tracks on offer.
There is an episode of Doctor Who in which the Doctor visits Vincent Can Gogh. Towards the end of the episode they are laying on the grass looking up into the sky on a starry night, and Vincent explains how he sees the world. The camera then slowly converts the night sky to look like one of Van Gogh's paintings. The implication being that Van Gogh was painting the world he saw. I wish there was a way I could hear the world the way that Wally De Backer hears the world. He finds music in everything, and what's more he's able to pull it out and put it on tape for everyone else to hear it too.
This album is a work of such extreme mastery I expect I'll still be spotting things (both musically and lyrically) for years to come. I would be highly surprised if I heard a better album this year, I would be even more surprised if Making Mirrors failed to win the J Award for Australian album of the year (look out for Somebody That I Used To Know to win best video, and perhaps take out the top spot in the Hottest 100 too).
This is why I listen to music. This is genius. This is love.
No comments:
Post a Comment