Kasey Chambers’ last release was a double album, a sprawling and diverse set that at times felt like it would have benefited from more editing and quality control. Perhaps in reaction to the nature of that album she’s retreated to the campfire as both a symbol and a literal focal point for this set of … Continue reading
Author Archives: Doubtful Sounds
ALBUM REVIEW: Suicide Swans – La Jungla
Suicide Swans are seemingly a band on a mission. The dust has barely settled on the release cycle for their excellent Augusta album of last year and they’re already releasing it’s followup – the sprawling, psych, rock and cosmic country double album that is La Jungla. Recorded live in one day in an amphitheatre, the band … Continue reading
VIDEO PREMIERE: Eddie Nuardo – Honey Baby
Melbourne singer/songwriter Eddie Nuardo is releasing his new solo LP The Good Whiskey Never Lasts next week on Tuesday June 12th. PTW is pleased to be able to premiere the first single/video from the album, ‘Honey Baby’. It’s a sweet sway of a song built on lilting guitar and vocal melodies and the voice of Helena … Continue reading
INTERVIEW: Davey Craddock
BOMBS AND BURIED OPTIMISM Davey Craddock’s first album was an impressive collection of Australian Americana music from the west coast of the continent, but on his second album he felt the need to mix things up and explore the pervasive sense of anxiety in these changing, uncertain times. When Craddock sat down to start writing … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Davey Craddock – One Punch
Davey Craddock draped his debut album in Americana sounds as he wove stories about places and people, primarily in Australia. It was a superb debut and its followup, One Punch, is equally compelling whilst coming from different angles. One Punch steps back, and assesses the world with a brutal honesty. It takes stock of the … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Neil Young + Promise Of The Real – The Visitor
This the second studio album from Young’s collaboration with Promise Of The Real, the band centred around Willie Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah. The Monsanto Years was a much straighter country rock affair while The Visitor sets out for wider and more eclectic terrain, making it his best album since Psychedelic Pill. ‘Fly By Night’ … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Cat Canteri – Inner North
Singer songwriter Cat Canteri has been slowly been building herself an impressive career that now numbers three solo albums. The sense of patience, self-determination and the evolution and refinement of her songwriting makes Inner North her most rewarding record to date. Canteri’s ability to drift between styles is a real strength and the way she … Continue reading
LIVE REVIEW: Marlon Williams @ Metro Theatre, Sydney
Marlon Williams, The Weather Station @ Metro Theatre, May 17th 2018 Five years of hard work, countless hours in airport lounges, nights on friends’ couches and in bars and clubs is paying off big time with Marlon Williams’ current Australian tour sold out in the largest venues he’s headlined to date. This time around he he’s brought … Continue reading
20th Anniversary: Remembering Chris Whitley’s ‘Dirt Floor’
Blues & Alchemy: Remembering Chris Whitley’s ‘Dirt Floor’ 2000 was a particularly big year for me personally. I’d finished high school in rural NSW the previous year and had transgressed to the metropolis of Sydney. I spent the year between two share houses, one in La Perouse, the other in Petersham. I’d be embarrassed to … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: The High Ceilings – Poppy Won
Sydney trio The High Ceilings have released a new single, the precursor to a full length album they’ve been working on, with the majority recorded in a community hall on the South Coast of NSW. ‘Poppy Won’ has a wonderful blend of the slacker delivery of Dylan, the weary, ragged strum and melancholic vibe of Neil … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: William Crighton – Empire
William Crighton’s debut album had him pegged as an Americana/gothic rock songwriter – all fire and brimstone and heart on sleeve emotion. Now, on his sophomore album, he’s expanded his stylistic palette into a whole range of sonic shades and textures. The intense and impassioned preacher is still railing from the pulpit but now you … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Damien Jurado – The Horizon Just Laughed
The Horizon Just Laughed comes on the back of the loosely thematic trilogy of albums he recorded with producer and musician Andrew Swift. They were psychedelic in nature though still rooted in the folk form. In contrast, this feels like a retreat from the density and experimentation, to a place of reflection and solitude. Jurado … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Courtney Marie Andrews – May Your Kindness Remain
“I like you honey, being with you is like being alone”. It’s a line in I’ve Hurt Worse that sums up the lyrical concerns of Courtney Marie Andrews’ sophomore album in two ways. The rocky terrain of personal relationships and the mental health issues of modern society. If her debut was an impressive introduction to … Continue reading
NEWS: Lucero Announce New Album and Share Two Songs
Lucero are back with a new album scheduled for release on August 3rd via Liberty & Lament/Thirty Tigers. Among The Ghosts will be their ninth LP and marks their 20th anniversary as a band. It sounds like they’ve gone for a tantalising blend of the big, live and loose sound based on ‘For The Lonely … Continue reading
My Gateway Drug to Americana Music
The Gateway Drug to Americana Music Finding an entry point into a genre that you previously had little interest in, even disdain for, can be a revelation, a hidden door leading to a lifetime of new discoveries and musical obsessions. For me it was having my eureka moment with the godfather of Americana – Neil Young. … Continue reading