(from beat-sketching, July '03) / home / reviews index
The Lucksmiths
'Naturaliste' (Fortuna Pop!)
There's a difference between something being 'understated' and 'underdone',
and don't the Lucksmiths know it. They are a wordy bunch of Australians.
But on the trio's fifth album they've mostly restricted their punning
to a proper indie title like 'There Is a Boy That Never Goes Out' ("ba-ba-ba-ba
goes the backing vocal / I'm trying not to be so antisocial"),
and cleared out the orchestration in arrangements that always sounded
airy anyway. Comparing their last 'Why That Doesn't Surprise Me' to
this is like comparing a conservatory to a greenhouse. The same basic
material but there's more scope for things to grow in this one.
So it's yet breezier in its barely electric guitars and in its conversational poetics, although none the lighter in its emotion - however, they wear their brain on their sleeve as well as their heart. Ugh, that's a really horrible twisted metaphor, isn't it? I found it too funny not to use. This band would never be so dumb. What I mean is that these songs skip like in love through upbeat observations jangly like the first REM to slowies as pretty and sad as anything like 'Sunday Morning' by the Velvet Underground, but all with a well-crafted process of expression through only the most suitable rhyme - without sounding any boring.
Hiding in photos, breakfast in bed, views in early windows and a disevangelical choir on 'Stayaway Stars' are the abiding memories of an effortless journey. The sense of relaxation as you listen to this record is palpable, even after the sadder songs. It's a sense that some things are right in the world. The vocals are breathed out like they come from a hammock (but I bet these boys hide notebooks under their pillows).
