Simpatico - Postal Museum

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

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Review

This is the debut E.P. from Simpatico, and the twenty-second release of "pop music" label Matinee, which specialises in “jangly guitars, emotive vocals, trumpets, strings and ba-da-bas”. Simpatico is basically a solo project featuring Jason Sweeney, who is helped occasionally by his friend Cailan Burns on keyboards. Some of you may remember Jason Sweeney as the singer and guitarist of Sweet William, an Australian four piece from a few years ago. I have now become a fan of Simpatico,and then from it Sweet William. It was the need to release Sweet William that caused the creation of Matinee recordings. They released two excellent EPs – ‘Dutch Mother’ and ‘Lovely Norman’, both of which featured three songs each and both which are still available. Now the wonderful talent that is Jason Sweeney has moved on to Simpatico. To be honest there is hardly any difference between his former group and the current one. Both feature simple guitar playing and a hint of electronica. If you are a Sweet William fan then you will be a Simpatico fan automatically, and vice-versa. The sound seems to be heavily influenced by British indie music and I wouldn’t have guessed that Sweeney is in fact Australian. The first song is ‘Union Station’. It is very simple musically with a repeated acoustic guitar line and keyboard percussion. The music is upbeat but is contrasted with mournful vocals and sad lyrics. It is catchy, simple, and melodic but the songwriting is strong. Lyrically it talks of how the “world is hard for boys like me and girls like me”. It takes a few listens to really appreciate but it perfectly represents Jason Sweeney’s style. The EP continues with the even better ‘Pheromone Stars’. It is very similar to the opening track but is more instantly catchier and slightly quicker. It is probably the record’s highpoint, and is the most lyrically imaginative. The title track is then followed by “Song For Steven”. Both these continue the high standards of the first two tracks, and continues to be reasonably simplistic with the sound focusing on Sweeney’s vocals. As I played this record more it is the vocals that started to really impress me. I can’t quite decide what makes them so strong, but they are very direct, powerful and really fit well with the tunes. This debut release is immensely promising. Some people will find its simplicity irritating and will hate it I’m sure, but any fan of traditional indie music is bound to be impressed. Jason Sweeney seems to be developing into a wonderful talent and I’ll look forward to his first album, whenever it appears.

Track Listing:-

1 Union Station
2 Pheromone Stars
3 The Postal Museum
4 Song For Steven

Label Links:-

http://matineerecordings.com/
https://www.facebook.com/matineerecord