Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 7 / 7 / 2005

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Review

The Lucksmiths are like that old friend who disappears for a year or two without warning and then turns up out of the blue without any explanation. It’s like they’re there then they disappear (which is strange really as ‘Warmer Corners’ must be about their seventh album) and then they come back like nothing’s changed. You pick up where you left off; just glad to have them back in your life. In the musical world of the Lucksmiths nothing has changed. And it is, as always, good to hear from them again. The Melbourne quartet has, with ‘Warmer Corners’, again treated us with twelve slices of indie pop shot through with their normal wit. In the past I’ve mentioned both Morrissey and Jonathan Richman in reviews of the Lucksmiths and that still rings true, but there does seem to be a hint of maturity in these songs. A couple of songs are instant classic Lucksmiths tunes. Dealing with the usual lost/unrequited/new love themes and still blessed with intelligent lyrics that don’t take themselves too seriously, ‘The Chapter In Your Life Entitled San Francisco’, and ‘Sunlight In A Jar’ are outstanding and proof that after a two year lapse since their last album ‘Naturaliste’ they have lost none of their charm. Tali White, that rare breed of drummer who can actually sing, ( try naming one, Phil Collins doesn’t count as he was in Genesis, the guy who sang 'December ’63' in the Four Seasons was good but his name? Dave Hemmingway of The Housemartins/Beautiful South is the only one who comes to mind) sounds suitably doleful and at odds with the happy music and it’s that mixture which pulls the Lucksmiths out of the ordinary box. But it’s not all happy, shiny summer sounds, the weeping pedal steel drenched ballad ‘If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home Now’, sample lyric, “Even the stereo sounds tired”, shows a different side to the band and works really well. For the most part the songs are written by Marty Donald and sung by White but bass player Mark Monnone contributes (and sings on?) four songs one of which, ‘Young And Dumb’ is one of the highlights of the album. Showing he can match Donald with both catchy melodies and witty but touching lyrics, “wanted to tell you that no guitar could fix our broken hearts now” their trademark jangly guitars to the fore, this is the Lucksmiths we have loved and missed. There’s even a Motown inspired song, ‘Now I’m Even Further Away’, which also works well, with added brass courtesy of Adam Hutterer and Matt Habben. But just now it’s ‘Great Lengths’ which steals the show. With some catchy lead guitar and more great lyrics, “you had your father’s charm and thus your mother’s Volvo” it’s classic Lucksmiths. The Lucksmiths break no new ground here and quite honestly we wouldn’t want them to. What we have in ‘Warmer Corners’ is twelve solid guitar based indie pop songs like we have come to expect from the band. Let’s hope they continue to drop into our lives every couple of years. Oh, and by the way, for anyone who found even the slightest pleasure in the Distractions only album ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ from 20 odd years ago, give a listen to ‘Warmer Corners’, for some reason it brought to mind the beauty of that album, which is no bad thing.

Track Listing:-

1 A Hiccup In Your Happiness
2 The Music Next Door
3 Great Lengths
4 Now I'm Even Further Away
5 The Chapter In Your Life Entitled San Francisco
6 Sunlight In A Jar
7 If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Now
8 Young And Dumb
9 Putting It Off And Putting It Off
10 I Don't Want To Walk Around Alone No More
11 The Fog Of Trujillo
12 Fiction

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