The sonic behemoth that is Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird (CTBNF) arises again. My love for and admiration for this magnificent and criminally underrated band knows no bounds, and there is a delicious and satisfying sense of joy when each new release further confirms their position as one of the most exciting bands around at the moment. And so it is with their new album ‘Rosewater Crocodile’, their first since the joyous ‘Smiles of Earth’ released in the post pandemic torpor of 2022 (see my review here) through the glorious Double Drummer label.
The new album continues CTBNF’s evangelistic ascension. It is an album that represents an unique chapter of their artistry. Lachlan Rose says:
The album was recorded on Dja Dja Wurrung Country inside a beautiful chapel on Josh’s property, a couple of hours from the city. Most of the time it was utterly freezing but we ran with kangaroos in the frosty woods some mornings, ate his wife Marta’s outrageous pumpkin pie, and warmed our hands by the fireplace so we felt dextrous enough to play instruments. One thing that stands out to me is how little music we listened to while we made this album. When people ask what it sounds like, I don’t really know what to tell them – other than maybe Phil Collins’ original soundtrack for Disney’s Tarzan.
He says of the creative process:
The more songs I write, and the more we bring them to life as a band, the more we learn to let go. David Lynch described the process of creativity as sinking. Below the ripples and the waves lies a dark ocean of ideas (or fish). The longer you train yourself to sink down there, the bigger and the stranger and the more dangerous the creatures become. The rosewater crocodile was what I found down there. It’s a world of exotic jungles, singing ghosts, recalcitrant fairies, dream bears and winding rivers that fizz with iridescent, oily bubbles. Or as our producer Josh Barber described it – ‘a magic album about magic.’
CTBNF continue to be one of the most distinctive, innovative bands in Australia at the moment – each single, each album raises the bar exponentially with their orchestral big band sound, their infectious, joyous melodies and inimitable style. They are musical evangelists preaching the most heady and rousing anthems that enflame the very soul. They are the proselytising prophets of music, and you count me as a devoted acolyte.
Opening track ‘Rosewater’ features layered orchestral sounds which augment this track with the drama and theatricality of Rose’s vocals: a big band sound that is a feature of CTBNF. With the flair of eighties bands like ABC, the emotional tug of Sigur Rós and the suave majesty of Tindersticks, ‘Rosewater’ continues the upwards trajectory of one of Australia’s greatest musical outfits, whose output is way too sparse by far. And thus all the more treasured.
A rolling piano sparks off the track with layers of vocal choruses in the ether, Rose’s voice displaying an extraordinary range with an anthemic, cinematic instrumentation fringed by flutes and horns. There is a gospel feel, euphoric and joyful. It is as vast and immersive as the desert skies over Australia.
‘Sky’ has delicate tinkle of keys and a haunting sound in the ether before female vocals call in the distance and Rose’s vocals are as cool and louche as always. The guitar are chunky and funky: there is a velvet flared jeans with sideburns and permed hair feel to the track: funky and soul-infused. The female vocal interlude adds a frisson to the gloss – the song ebbs and flows with a gossamer flow.
‘Mercury Rising’ is the most fluid, ambulant slice of sinuous funk you could ever have the pleasure of hearing. A syncopated bass that throbs with intensity under the surface creates a hypnotic thread that flows throughout the track, with some wild synths creating a psychedelic multi-coloured hue and splashing guitars adding a crystalline thrill. The result is something quite infectious and utterly mesmerising.
The themes are as sensual as the music itself. Lachlan Rose says:
Mercury Rising percolated in the creative volcano for many years. Riffs at sound check, lyrics on tour etc. Then the band had a day off between shows in Europe, went to a nudist day spa and the song was crystallized. It’s a celebration of fun, sexy love – platonic or otherwise. We wanted the song itself to sound like the world in which it was created; a safe, playful celebration of lascivious love between friends.
Rose’s vocals are louche with a huge dollop of insouciance and sexiness, yelping and soothing at the same time, filled with emotion and highlighted by the angelic backing vocals. Rose is a preacher, a seer, a guru who exhorts, cajoles and entreats, a Pan Piper for the soul with a hint of humour and a wicked glint in the eye.
An instrumental interlude creates a brief melodic diversion that serves to blast the main return into orbit. This is a track that would make an ambulatory challenged person gyrate, reanimate a corpse and shine a blinding light into the darkest corners of the universe and into the heart of the most moribund individual.
There is a turn to a more acoustic jangle with exotic instrumental flourishes in ‘Jane Bear’: creating wide expansive horizons as the horns kick in with a chorus of backing vocals. rose’s vocals are never more impressive with his range and depth of feeling.
‘My Ghost & Its Crawling’ sees Rose adopt a vocally lighter almost falsetto tone and the result is something more ethereal and posed. There are certainly elements of the gravitas of The National and Tindersticks detectable in the DNA, delivered over a rolling rumbling piano and soaring, euphoric melodies that epitomise this band.
Rose says of the track in his usual erudite style:
‘My Ghost & Its Crawling’ explores the haunting nature of memory, and the forms that significant people assume within our own psyches. In some ways I think people from our past live inside us as very real, living, breathing entities. They can be talked with, argued with, listened to and loved, for better or for worse. In my experience, no matter how hard you exorcise those spirits, they can still be heard crawling around in the attics and the garrets and the nooks and in the hallways of your heart. This song is sung from the perspective of such a spirit.
An aching melancholy beauty threads through the track and CTBNF deliver yet again something stirring and exciting.
‘Fairy King’ ripples like a flowing stream with pattering percussion and flowing guitars. There is a restrained folk feel to this track, like ‘Mango Season’ with layered harmonies and a dreamy reverie about it and ‘Flee The Cage’, is just as restrained, drifts on rolling piano and gently vocals. ‘Freak of Nature’ channels ABC with Rose’s delivery to the fore and the usual wry sense of humour and a haunting trumpet creating contrials in the sky.
An electronic beat and Rhodes piano sound form the base of ‘Rest 1644’: another restrained ballad filled with a theatrical poignancy. Final track ‘Crocodile’ ends the album with a more upbeat jaunty pace – a titular book end to the opening track with layers of dreamy vocals.
This is a glorious album filled with hope and light and yet threaded through with a romantic poignancy and wry humour. The instrumentation creates a sonic kaleidoscope of colours – thrilling horn flourishes, delicate piano and wind instrumentation creating mesmerising eddies in the mix and the vocals are heavenly, layered and filled with melody and harmony. The sound and lyrics have an antipodean blush to them: incorporating the sounds of the dusty red deserts and the open blue skies of the land, threaded through with a larrikin sense of humour and a deep seated romanticism: a shining beam of light when all else is dark.
‘Rosewater Crocodile’ is out today and can be downloaded and streamed here.
Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird will be touring Rosewater Crocodile in Australia this July and August – tickets are on sale now. Rose says:
The tour has been a long time coming. We’re at our happiest in a van together on a 10 hour drive. But the show at the end of the ride always transcends that feeling. We’re so humbled by the joyous, nurturing and cathartic essence of the crowds that come to Cousin Tony shows. To be immersed so regularly in them is a true pleasure and one we’ll be seeking out as long as we live. Special mentions to our treasured saxophonist Oliver Whitehead who is returning from living overseas straight into our tour van. Happy days.
Feature Photograph: Caspar Conrick
