With Simon Bonney at the helm since it formed in Australia in 1977, the stateless Crime and the City Solution have been haunting and mesmerising audiences with their ethereal, dark gothic flavoured music ever since. Forever intertwined and associated with the vibrant Sydney and Melbourne scene in the late seventies and early eighties, with band members interchanging with The Birthday Party and connections to other bands like Particles and Pel Mel, the band is a vital strand in the genetic code of indie music in Australia and beyond.
After a ten year break and fueled, as much creativity has been, by the strictures of lockdown and the pandemic, the band, with the mainstays Bonney and Bronwyn Adams, has recently released the brilliant album ‘the killer’ and, to promote this, have just commenced an extensive UK/European tour.
‘the killer’ is Crime & the City’s sixth studio album, and their first in over a decade. It is out now via the legendary Mute Records on vinyl, CD and download.
Now based in Berlin, the current band lineup includes core members Bonney and Adams, joined by Frederic Lyenn (piano, bass, synth), Donald Baldie (guitar), Georgio Valentino (synth, guitar), Chris Hughes (drums, percussion) and Joshua Murphy (piano, guitar), and for the first time they worked with a producer, Martin J. Fiedler, who also added synth and mellotron to the album. Bonney says:
This line-up has a lot of chemistry now. Crime [& the City Solution] will always be a live band and a band that likes to improvise, so getting to know each other and being able to communicate on a subconscious level is key to what makes our music special – we are at that place now.
Member Murphy adds:
Live, the band, and subsequently, the songs became something entirely different and new, more a free-form, unpredictable and ever-changing entity than a rehearsed and pre-decided presentation. Songs with three verses suddenly had five, three-minute song’s extended to fifteen, with sections added or left out, A pulsating babble of notes, textures, and soundscapes for Simon to tell his stories over.
Bonney explains further:
That was true of all the line-ups and from tour to tour. And the tradition continues in this incarnation. Songs from previous line-up will take on new personalities and meaning as this band interacts with them. The songs reflect and are informed by the time and place that they are played in – a conversation between the band and the band and the audience.
Whatever the result, one thing is certain, this is a tour not to be missed. Support will be provided by Murphy who has an admirable career of his own.
Dates are as follows (with tickets links):
23 Nov – Haacht (BE), Can’t Live In a Living-Room
24 Nov – London (UK), The Moth Club
25 Nov – Bristol (UK), The Cube Cinema
26 Nov – Colchester (UK), Colchester Arts Centre
29 Nov – Paris (FR), La Boule Noire
30 Nov – Geneva (CH), L’Usine
1 Dec – Karlsruhe (DE), P8
2 Dec – Ebensee (AT), Kino Ebensee
3 Dec – Zagreb (HR), Mochvara
4 Dec – Milano (IT), Arci Bellezza
5 Dec – Munich (DE), Muffatwerk
6 Dec – Prague (CZ), Fuchs2
7 Dec – Budapest (HU), Instant
8 Dec – Linz (AT), Stadtwerkstatt
9 Dec – Poznań (PL), 2Progi
10 Dec – Warsaw (PL), Niebo
12 Dec – Dresden (DE), Chemiefabrik
13 Dec – Hamburg (DE), Hafenklang
14 Dec – Copenhagen (DK), BETA
15 Dec – Oslo (NO), Salt
16 Dec – Stockholm (SE), HUS7
17 Dec – Gothenburg (SE), Musikens Hus
19 Dec – Berlin (DE), Urban Spree
You can download and stream ‘the killer’ here and through the link below. Look out for a full review:
Feature Photograph: Martyn Goodacre
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