Gin Club - Deathwish

  by Dixie Ernill

published: 2 / 12 / 2010

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Queensland's the Gin Club are a strange musical beast with seven permanent members sharing lead vocal duties and often swapping instruments when playing live. As such they aren't straight forward to pin down and current album 'Deathwish', their fourth, is no different, which makes for an interestingly eclectic listen, but ultimately one that is difficult to fall head over heels for. Lazily they have been compared to iconic fellow Australians the Go Betweens, but in truth other than being from the same country it is hard to see the similarity. To my ears they seem more similar to Augie March, the Triffids or the Church, but sadly on the strength of this album are not quite as good as any of the above. My only previous encounter with the band's music is a couple of fine cuts from their previous LP, 'Junk', in the shape of 'Ten Paces Away' and the heartfelt ballad 'You Me and the Sea', but nothing on 'Deathwish' quite matches up. I, however, have a soft spot for Australia and in particular, Queensland, having spent a couple of Christmases there in recent years and can see why the Gin Club could go down well in the likes of Bangalow or Byron Bay. Their songs seem to switch between middle of the road rock, such as 'Eternity', 'Pennies' or 'Rain', harmony rich folk numbers ('Say You Will' and 'Book of Poison') and understated ballads like 'Slow Down' and the female fronted 'Milli Vanilli'. The title track even hints at the National, which is certainly a plus. In the warmer climes of Australia I would give this album a solid 7 out of 10, but in the cold and damp of Northern England, it only registers a disappointed 5

Track Listing:-

1 Pennies
2 Say You Will
3 Rain
4 Deathwish
5 Choppin' Wood
6 Book Of Poison
7 Slow Down
8 Do Right
9 Eternity
10 Milli Vanilli
11 Gone
12 I Am My Own Partner
13 Shake Hands

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