Halfway - Remember the River

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 22 / 10 / 2006

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Following swiftly on from their debut ‘Farewell To The Fainthearted’, Brisbane’s seven-strong country rockers Halfway don’t disappoint with this new 13 song collection. From the opening blast of ‘River Roads’, it’s immediately obvious the band have lost none of their talent for writing extremely strong songs rooted firmly in the alt-country genre. I had the pleasure of reviewing the band’s last album and have to say that all that was said then (and not only by me) still stands when reviewing this latest album. The sounds of Ryan Adams, Wilco, the Triffids and Drive By Truckers can still be heard in these high lonesome songs. The playing is still superb and the production by Wayne Connelly, who produced the last album with the band, and Rob Younger (Radio Birdman) is outstanding. Much like the Drive By Truckers some of the appeal of Halfway lies in the fact that they have not just one good singer. Halfway go one better than that band however; they have three great singers. In John Busby and Chris Dale, who also handle guitars and a lot of the song writing duties, the band have two of the most impressive vocalists to grace any alt-country album. But on the opening song the lead vocals are taken by Dale and bassist Ben Johnson. And their voices are simply perfect together and the way they take a line each is pure genius. Whoever thought of that deserves more than a pat on the back. Actually starting the album with such a strong song is both good (the hope that more of the same is to come…and it does) and bad (it’s hard not to keep hitting the replay button to hear the song over and over again). It’s a wonder to hear the duo sing “by my side” at the close of the song> Such a simple line sung with such conviction and just so catchy. The album is simply superb all the way through, and each time I listen to it a different song emerges as my current favourite. At the time of writing it’s the fourth track on the album, ‘Factory Floor’, that I can’t get past. With banjo and superb slide guitar from the Fitzpatrick brothers and just a few vocal lines from Tracey Ellis it really is a highlight. But next time it just might be the simple love song which is ‘Cherri Ann’. Awash with fiddle, that weeping slide guitar again and mandolin and particularly effecting vocals from Busby, it’s one of the most heartbreaking songs on the album. But even when the band takes things at a faster pace as in ‘Billie Jo and the Bullyman’, it still works. To these ears there is little that is better than the band slowing it down as on ‘Favour For A Friend’ or ‘The Ballad Of Liza Browne’ but when they want to they can rock out and still hold their own. So they chose to rock out with mandolins, fiddle, dobro and banjo rather than blazing guitars but there’s something in the way this band tackle these songs, you can feel that they live these songs; they are part of the band, and that is something that is missing a lot these days. Halfway sound like the real deal, they are not going through the motions. These are real songs by real musicians, and that is all too rare. Those who discovered Halfway with ‘Farewell To The Fainthearted’ will find plenty more of the same to love here. For those who have yet to discover the new uncrowned kings of alt-country, start here and find out what you have been missing.

Track Listing:-

1 River Roads
2 Dean & the Fitzroy
3 Dearest Mother
4 Factory Floor
5 Cherri Ann
6 Billi Jo & the Bullyman
7 Ballad of Liza Browne
8 Favour for a Friend
9 Left for Luck
10 Big Wave
11 Chance
12 Wear Me Out
13 Edge of the Peer

Label Links:-

http://www.laughingoutlaw.com.au/
https://www.facebook.com/laughingoutlawrecordsandmanagement
https://laughingoutlaw.bandcamp.com/

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