Album Review: Glenn Bennie (Underground Lovers) unveils luminescent instrumental album ‘Juno Low’ ahead of launch gig.

The new year sets of off with a veritable sparkle as Glenn Bennie, understated and undisputed genius guitar player for Underground Lovers and GB3, releases an album of luminescent instrumentals collected over the last four years. It’s a collection inspired by his love for a mixture of ambience and krautrock, elements that can always be detected in the very genetic make-up of the Underground Lovers’ oeuvre over the decades.

Given Bennie’s proclivities, the album is filled with shimmering guitars and a motorik beat, delivering melodic pieces that are luminescent and grand, creating a sense of euphoria with its vibrant pulse.

An orchestral sweep introduces opening track ‘Silver Baby’ before an insistent bass thunders under the droning surface with horn highlights that add a cinematic scope to the sound. There is a hint of a Roxy Music grandiosity in the musical fabric: rich and layered, hypnotic. ‘Ticking Mind’ sparkles and glitters with delayed, chorused guitars ringing out over a motorik beat, ambulant and aquatic splashing like a waterfall. There is a nuanced and subtle melodic flow that positively rings out with a melancholic blush. The track comes with an immersive video made by Paul Fletcher from the legendary Essendon Airport with a panoply of vivid colours and imagery that perfectly encapsulates the vibe of the track:

‘Sequins’ is more dense and ambient, borne on an electronic mesh of sound and a wailing guitar in the distance and a rampant beat that propels the tune forward. An electronic burble seeps into the mix, adding an enigmatic frisson to the delivery. I’m reminded of some of the early Simple Minds instrumentals with the euro-disco beat and air of mystery. ‘Forced Calm’ swerves into a more motorik thrum, filled with an off kilter white noise dissonance – something of a Cabaret Voltaire buzz – before a scaling synth riff dapples over the top. A funky guitar creates yet another layer in a track that soars through the ether with a heart beat pulse throughout.

‘Expectation’ has an ominous drone with its thundering circular percussion and bass and wailing, almost middle eastern synths, dark and brooding. This creates an incendiary pace that heads towards a crescendo: hypnotic and transfixing like an impending crash where you brace for the inevitable impact. The title track feels almost like a break in the clouds – shimmering luminescent guitars chime above swelling synths, featherweight ripples making their way into the mix. It’s a floating ambient track the weaves its way around the ether. This ambient style flows through to the reflective ‘Signals For You’ which becomes more grounded with a motorik beat and a drone chorus in the distance.

‘Bedsit’ has a sort of dub beat reminiscent of the more electronic experimental work of the Undies in their ‘Cold Feeling’ era, filled with whirly gig sound effects and warped layers. The album ends with ‘Altona Machine’ – an other drone-driven enigmatic piece that has other wordly sounds and effects hovering in the air.

‘Juno Low’ is an essential part of the Undies family collection – an album that draws upon the lush instrumentation of the band and creates its own immersive soundscapes that subtly shift from ambient floating worlds to melody filled disco beats.

The album is available through the link below.

Bennie and his musical buddies will join him on stage to play tracks from the new album, as well as a selection of GB3 classics on Saturday, 25 January (see my review of the last GB3 album here). You can catch him along with the following luminaries of the melbourne music scene:

Maurice Argiro (Underground Lovers), Robert Tickner (Conway Savage Band / The Stream), Andrew Nunns (Autohaze / USER / Black Heart Death Cult / Underground Lovers), Daryl Bradie (Gersey / USER / Walkerville) and Lisa Gibbs (The Moth Body / The Same Same / USER / Greenhouse).

Kicking off the afternoon of live music will be very special guests, The Same Same, featuring Lisa Gibbs and Philippa Nihill (Underground Lovers). They will be performing reinterpretations of Brian Eno classics from their celebrated EP, Before and After Eno (see my review here), and will also be joining Bennie on stage for a few songs.

You can get more details and tickets here.

Feature Photograph: Arun Kendall