Sleepy Township - Set Sail

  by John Clarkson

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

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With a band name like ‘Sleepy Township’, and a beautiful front cover painting of houses in an empty small town street in the early morning by group member Mia Schoen, one might be led to assume that ‘Set Sail’ is the work of a dreamy and soft rock or folk outfit. ‘The Sleepies’, as they are affectionally known by their native Australian fans, in one of the neat contradictions upon which the band obviously prides itself, however, prove, upon first hearing, to be anything but soporific, and an act who thrive on the off-balanced and the unexpected. What we in fact get from them across the course of this, their enticing but chaotic debut album, is three chord grunge garage rock with a strong bass and keyboard influence, and offbeat lyrics that would not be out of place on a ‘C86’ record. ‘Sleepy Township’ was first formed in the mid nineties and is the joint collaboration of Schoen, who was in the now defunct ‘The Molasses’, once described as ‘the best band from Perth since The Triffids’,and Guy Blackman, who formerly fronted his own group ‘Sulk’, and also heads ‘Chapter Music’, the Melbourne-based label upon which ‘Set Sail’ appears. Both Schoen and Blackman play guitar, keyboard and bass on ‘Set Sail’, and dividing up songwriting duties neatly between them, each sings on their own tracks. The group also features drummer and backing vocalist Chris Gorman, who has co-written four of the songs with Schoen and Blackman, and additional bassist, Alison Bolger. The whole album has a rough-edged and ragged quality. Recorded over various sessions between 1996 and 1998, its tracks sound haphazard and rush produced , like they are a hastily assembled and quickly put together set of demos. Loud clearings of throats and microphones snapped on at full volume kickstart songs. The keyboard work has a sludgy sound , and the guitars and the frenetic twin bass playing that dominates much of this record are harsh and crude. This calculated lack of pretension and punk aversion to frills is, however, coupled with a good natured humour, and-the making of the album-gives Sleepy Township, like ‘The Ramones’ before them, a unique individuality and much of their edge. Both heavily tongue-in-cheek, and with enough guttural enthusiasm to prove infectious, ‘Set Sail’ has a raw, endearing charm, and a bounding and lively fresh energy. The two singers’ opposing vocal styles give it further weight. Blackman’s cracked and beaten-up voice injects both ‘twee’ warmth and self-deprecating comedy into proceedings. On ‘All These Records’, the album’s most surreal number, he imagines his record collection ‘sitting out their sleeves’ talking back to him and telling him off for not going to bed. ‘Lone Ranger’ is a quirky ode to the Western superhero. “You say ‘You know I really like you’/I say ’You know you stink of alcohol’ he sings with deadpan glumness on ‘Little Song’, and on ‘Unperturbed’, having got a girlfriend, he is bawled out by her with ‘adjectives...that stretch to the end of the world”. Schoen’s voice, in another twist, is in contrast both powerful and dynamic, and proves to be something of a revelation. It drops to a Nico-like Germanic drawl on the ballad ‘For You’ , and is pensive and reflective on the moody ‘Westgate Bridge’, while on the up-tempo, breakneck love songs such as ‘Heed the Call’, ‘Another Episode’ and ‘Merry Xmas’ that prove to be her speciality it oscillates wildly between both assertion and determination and a high-pitched, waif-like squeal. An album of opposites, ‘Set Sail’ is both a clever and a frank record and one that pulls punches and crackles with a back-to-basics energy. Both novel and innovative and with a firm emphasis on fun and humour, it very coarseness gives it a degree of quality, and for many will be an enjoyable and rapidly addictive listening experience.

Track Listing:-

1 Heed The Call
2 All These Records
3 Thanks
4 Just A Sec
5 For You
6 Little Song
7 Pillow
8 Westgate Bridge
9 Unperturbed
10 Another Episode
11 Lone Ranger
12 Weak
13 Last Time Early
14 UFO
15 Earth Wire
16 Merry Xmas

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