Missy Higgins, Luke Steele and Ball Park Music: Australia's best new music for March
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Loading... - David Smith
- 10 Mar 2022
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Luke Steele – Common Man
For fans of: MGMT, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, the Sleepy Jackson
After traversing the cosmos with Empire of the Sun, producing pop songs for Beyoncé and trading sequencer settings with Daniel Johns in Dreams, Luke Steele gets back to where he once belonged with Common Man. Steele’s first solo single picks up sonically where the second Sleepy Jackson record left off back in 2006. There’s smatterings of George Harrison-style slide, a gentle pastoral melody and enough backwards bits to suck you into a vortex. Mostly, it seems like Steele is revisiting the style of songwriting that commanded his Sleepy Jackson debut Lovers, with acoustic strumming, thoughtful melodic leaps and beds of wordless vocals, all making for an otherworldly sound without diving into the sci-fi that often made Empire of the Sun seem robotic and forced.
For more: Steele’s debut solo album Listen to the Water is out 13 May.
Missy Higgins – Total Control
For fans of: the Motels, Divinyls, Cyndi Lauper
For someone who showed such preternatural songwriting talent at a tender age, Missy Higgins seems most comfortable when interpreting the songs of others. In 2014, she released a covers album featuring songs from Something For Kate, Slim Dusty and Kylie Minogue, while more recently she recorded a song penned by Tim Minchin and rang in Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations with a Perry Keyes cover. Here, she slays the Motels’s classic Total Control, opting for a faithful rendition rather than a reinvention (if it ain’t broke). Total Control is the title track and gateway drug to her new EP inspired by the calls for widespread change brought about by the horrific experiences and impressive strength of Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins. In this context, it casts Total Control’s yearning lyrics in a new, more urgent light.
For more: Total Control EP is out now. Read More...
