With founding members Lindy Morrison (legendary drummer from The Go-Betweens) and Rob Snarski (the iconic Black Eyed Susans) at the helm, and joined by ‘Evil’ Graham Lee (The Triffids, The Blackeyed Susans), Shane O’Mara (Rebecca’s Empire, Chris Wilson, The Silversound) and Dan Kelly (Paul Kelly, Dan Kelly & The Alpha Males), there was never any doubt something special would result from the supergroup SnarskiCircusLindyBand (SCLB).
Their new album ‘what’s said and what’s left unsaid’ is a delicious blend of antipodean pop and sixties flavoured bubble gum with a hint of Australiana thanks to Lee’s distinctive pedal guitars.
The album is a songwriting collaboration between Snarski and Morrison, marking the first time that Morrison has recorded her own compositions, and it makes you wonder why we had to wait so long to see this side of her craft. For the results are magnificent.
Opening track, the louche single ‘You’re So Adorable, featuring the vocals of French-Australian art pop indie prodigé Lili Alaska has a glam stomp beat and a fuzzy guitar spine. Alaska’s vocals exude an insouciant cool – distant, observant with a disassociated tone and a sardonic undertone. The knowing intelligent lyrics add to the lustre.
‘Parapet’ has a jaunty step framed by horns and splashing guitars that reminds me of the The Kinks at their most ebullient: a cheeky bounce with a sunny disposition and pop sensibility. A dreamy interlude has a psychedelic blush before the high-stepping pace returns.
‘The Dying Conversation’ is a gently reflective track, framed by Lee’s distinctive steel guitar weeping in the ether and Snarski’s yearning vocals underpinned by strings. The accompanying video by Michael Sawers (headsupcreative) captures Morrison and her daughter in the blinding sunshine at the iconic Waverley Cemetery (I believe) with its stunning seaside cliff location, adding a degree of melancholy to the sounds and the poignancy of the lyrics:
What do you think she said
holding her drink
On beats and songs in my head I said
And what do you think after that she asked
I think on people who have
gone, gone with the dead
And what do you think then when you die,
What will be left? What will be left?
I said, some will be sad and
some will forget
That I had a life of ridiculous fun
Of ridiculous fun
So, dying won’t make
them sad for too long
What’s happening then
a tear down her face
Beautiful resilient thoughts on the temporal nature of existence:
Female vocals take the reigns in ‘Take A Step’ with a Nancy Sinatra/Jane Birkin hue given by the guest silken vocals of the iconic Amanda Brown (The Go-Betweens); a dreamy sixties-flavoured Burt Bacharach flavoured track.
There is no denying an element of Robert Forster’s lyricism seeps into ‘Shane O’Mara Wears Mascara’ with its autobiographical lyrics wryly tipping a hat to the band and referencing the album title. It’s a smooth warm fuzzy rambling jewel with its underlying insistent drone and wild synth blips with hilarious lyrics:
Shane O’Mara wore mascara,
Theatre Royal in Castlemaine
He surrendered to Lindy’s eye-poking pencil
bellyaching all the way
Ziggy Stardust, Marc Bolan,
no-one really cared
Flamboyant being, feathers and a beard
Then someone said, that someone
said, that someone said
We’re all non-binary in a way
‘Keepsakes’ is a gentle melancholic acoustic track that gently meanders through a vast open landscape creating a dreamy reverie.
There is a consistent thread of wry humour throughout the album – no more evident than with the amusingly titled track ”Since I Slept With You Everybody Wants to Sleep With Me’ with its sardonic delivery and louche Velvet Underground fuzz. ‘My Sweetheart Always Comes Back To Me’ continues the insouciant flavour with a more restrained ballad about memories and loss and a charming hopeless optimism. It’s a yearning track, Snarski’s vocals delicate and velvet-laden.
This air of charming melancholy and gentle self-reflective humour continues with ‘I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Sleep With You Again’, a bouncy pop track with a forward momentum and howling guitars that evokes an Echo and the Bunnymen vocal delivery. Final track ‘When Did Our Friendship End’ is a quietly reflective finale with Lee’s distinctive steel guitar creating a filigree of gold. Romy Vager from RVG takes over the guest vocals: passionate and brittle.
‘what’s said and what’s left unsaid’ is a brilliant snapshot of antipodean pop that is flavoured by a certain resigned self-deprecating sense of humour and middle aged melancholy, all delivered with an arched eyebrow and weary dissolute panache. Ten perfectly formed pop vignettes that is the result of years of experience, musicianship and personal poetry that captures the zeitgeist of a generation. It is simply epic and breathtakingly beautiful.
The album is out now and you can catch the band launching it across Australia:
Sunday Oct 19 (afternoon & early evening shows)
The Wheatsheaf
Thebarton, Adelaide SA
Saturday Oct 25 (7PM doors)
Memo Music Hall
St Kilda, Melbourne VIC
w/ special guests Belle Phoenix & Jeffrey Wegener
Sunday Nov 9 (1PM doors)
The Cave Inn
Woolloongabba, Brisbane QLD
(Rob Snarski & Lindy Morrison: A Duo Unveiled Show)
Friday Dec 19 & Sat Dec 20 (ON SALE NOW)
The Vanguard
Newtown, Sydney, NSW
w/ special guests Love Me
