The Gin Palace are whetting our appetites for their forthcoming debut album ‘Year of the Dog’, and the wait gets sweeter with each release as the anticipation builds.
Their third single ‘I Will Fall For You Always’ enters with a dramatic crystalline sweep like a desert dust storm thundering across the sonic landscapes with its crisp jingle jangle guitars and harmonised dual vocals. There is a touch of alt country in the delivery, a vast, cinematic endless horizon painted on the canvas. And in their inimitable fashion, the band doesn’t deal with light or inconsequential themes. Songwriter Paul McDonald explains:
…the story is told through the eyes of Mary Mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, a repentant prostitute. It is not a religious song, but a love song of devotion and longing.
It is a song of love and devotion describing a mother’s love for her son and a wife or significant other’s love for the same man – and the delivery is burnished by the guest vocals from Victorian artist Stefanie Duzel.
There is a mixing of Bruce Springsteen with The Triffids, epic balladry that captures the wild frontiers and the bright blue open skies. An aching beauty threads through the lyrics:
I will fall for you always
From the top of this high wire
If you catch me just this once
Just hold on
please hold on
And I promise I’ll go higher
There is something spiritual about this band: dramatic, passionate rock’n’roll evangelists imbued with an antipodean shimmer and a thousand yard stare.
The accompanying video is a compelling and enigmatic performance by the band:
‘I Will Always Fall For You’ is out now and available to stream and download here.
The Gin Palace are the prime example of the Marrickville Sound in Australia: experienced veteran artists returning to the musical fold with a renewed creativity and vigor. Peter Fenton, the band’s singer and one of its songwriters, is well known for his work as a musician, actor, filmmaker and writer. His group Crow were one of the most important Australian bands to come out of the 1990s and his screen credits include lead roles in the critically-acclaimed film Praise, adapted from the Vogel Award-winning novel by Andrew McGahan, and the ABC series Love is a Four Letter Word.
Paul McDonald (guitar) and Marc Lynch (bass) come from indie darlings Glide, the once feted great hope of the guitar noise assault brigade that for a while there shook things up across this country. Paul has also been the creative force behind Charlie Horse while Marc is a current member of Joey’s Coop. Brad Christmas is playing piano/hammond with his Copperline bandmate Gareth Richards on drums and joining on yet another guitar is Mark Tobin, previously from 90’s goth electro overlords Scarlet and Caligula and currently the frontman for The Finalists.
