P76 - Into The Sun

  by Geraint Jones

published: 16 / 9 / 2002

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Review

Formed around frontman and principal songwriter, Danny McDonald, P76 evolved from the ashes of McDonald’s previous band, Jericho, who’d built up some good support following a string of EPs and extensive touring. Based in Melbourne, P76's somewhat fluid line-up since forming in 1998 has resulted in McDonald recently making the decision to drop the P76 name and record and tour as a solo artist in future. P76, for those intrigued, take their name from that of an infamously troubled Australian brand of car manufactured briefly in the mid-1970s, the Leyland P76. ‘Into The Sun’ was originally released last year in Australia, so the recent name change probably won’t help the album’s chances here. Having said that though the album is certainly worth checking out. Produced by Dom Mariani, itself a strong recommendation (Mariani is a well known and respected figure in power pop circles, following his work with the Stems, the Some Loves and most recently DM3, his own return to recording, following something of a hiatus in recent years, would be welcomed by many), ‘Into The Sun’ is chock-full of solid exuberant power pop – beefy guitars, barbed hooks and big choruses. Consisting of twelve tracks and a running time just over thirty minutes, there’s no danger of the album overstaying its welcome. There may be not anything particularly innovative on display here – P76 are a regulation no-frills trio – guitar, bass and drums, but Danny McDonald’s got a strong and melodic voice perfectly suited to the material. The songs, most of which are penned entirely by McDonald (Dom Mariani and Jack And The Beanstalk’s Joe Algeri help on a track apiece) are mostly short and sweet, just long enough for someone of my age and condition to bounce around the room without making sure I have the paramedics number beforehand! (I won’t give away any more than that, although it’s more lack of condition than encroaching years that’s the problem – I may have to concede that my moshpit days are now behind me – a relief for many I’m sure!!). There aren’t any real duds here although I feel the few slower tracks tend to spoil the flow of the album within the context of the rest of the material. Overall though ‘Into The Sun’ is a brief, energetic and exciting half hour of anyone’s time and by the album’s end the temptation is to take track 3 at face value - ‘Let’s Get Back To Where We Started’, and spin the whole thing again.

Track Listing:-

1 Me and Her, The Road And Our EJ
2 Headed Straight For The Sun
3 Lets Get Back To Where We Started
4 Sleeping In
5 Something
6 Golden Days
7 Summah Jane
8 50,000 8 U Turns
9 Slow Down
10 Transit
11 Social Insecurity
12 My Sunshine

Label Links:-

http://ziprecords.com/
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https://www.youtube.com/user/ziprecord
https://plus.google.com/10626856819634