The new album ‘Silverlinings’ from Tasmania’s Verticoli puts on show their musical versatility and range of expression. A mix of tangible anger with a punkish delivery, hard rock swagger and some more laid back tracks combine to deliver something that is quite exciting and very cathartic.
Opening with the fittingly entitled ‘A Kick in the Teeth’, Verticoli show an uncompromising hard rock edge that is leavened by the melodies and jangling guitars. Singer Sam Hunn’s vocals manage to sound both sweet and sardonic at the same time: filled with a swagger as he sings somethings were never meant to be.
The visceral edge continues with ‘Milk & Honey’ with its hypnotic riff that has a nineties thunder to it and Hunn adding a little barbed wire to his delivery. The song is delivered with a sense of frustration, anxiety and anger like a sledgehammer to the frontal cortex.
‘Trash Kings’ has a thundering bass underbelly and soaring angry vocals and rather euphoric woohooing which creates an interesting counterpoint to the blasting sounds. ‘Be Three’ sets off at a frenetic pace with an impressive display of musical skills: complex rhythmic patterns and riffs.
‘Birds of Prey’ is evidence of their musical exploration: softer gentler guitar etches contrails in the sky while Hunn’s vocals are more contemplative. The thunder does return, anticipated by a chunky guitar blast. The track ebbs and flows with intensity.
‘See You Around’ is a little different from their harder sound. It burns intensely like a slow fuse, a touch bluesy, and born on distant warm organ sounds that oscillates under the instruments. A wild guitar solo reaches back to the seventies while the melody soars into the firmament. The band says of the song:
The song came about thinking on past relationships and situations where two people are in different places in life and can’t seem to make it work, not for lack of affection or love but due to other factors. In my mind the song takes place at the Marion Bay Falls Festival. It’s one of two songs on Silverlinings inspired by the festival. Musically we were thinking about Tom Petty when we were putting the song together. He’s always been an inspiration and influence. Kurt Vile’s album ‘B’lieve I’m Goin Down’ was the soundtrack driving into the Falls Festival one year, so I felt that influence come through too.
The accompanying video, evocatively filmed and directed by Isaac Sargeant in Hobart/nipaluna during the red-lit tinge of Hobart’s Dark Mofo Festival at dusk, captures the louche elements of the track – atmospheric and slightly mysterious:
‘Make It Your Own’ reminds me of early Hunters And Collectors with its frenetic bass and pace: almost a funky delivery threaded through with the visceral qualities that typify the band: hard edges and uncompromising.
Delivering their usual visceral and vibrant sounds, ‘Home’ contains scything guitars and a driving rhythm with Hunn’s huge vocals: a sound that encompasses many elements of nineties grunge – a little Pearl Jam, a little Smashing Pumpkins – but with their own style and panache.
Heavy riffs introduce ‘Another One’: an example of the hard rock focus of the album and the angry delivery, while ‘Sleep’ dials back the barrage of sound: more of a pysch-infused dreamy track that pulses with a seething intensity delivered over a heartbeat rhythm and a chemical fugue. Final track ‘Summer’ (a strange concept in the southern isle) sems to merge all styles encountered in the album: there is thunder but a melodic quality that is dreamy and evocative, anthemic with Hunn displaying his vocal range beautifully.
This is a band that can create wide-screen cinematic visions. There is something of Verticoli’s sound that reflect the wilderness of of their home: rough, raw and epic – a sound that reverberates like the ocean crashing in from Antarctica.
Out now, ‘Silverlinings’ is available to download and stream here.
Verticoli have lined up some launch shows in Tasmania and Victoria:
December 5 – The Grand Poobah, TAS
W/ Q.E. + Spooky Eyes + Soupy Mood
Tickets available at www.humanitix.com | 18+ only
January 9 – The Old Bar, VIC
Tickets available at door | 18+ only
