Allo Darlin' - Capricornia

  by Dixie Ernill

published: 28 / 1 / 2012

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Review

When a band sets out to achieve a particular sound it rarely works as well as here on 'Capricornia'. With the brief of writing a song that has a "feel of somewhere between 'A New England' by Kirsty MacColl and 'Cattle And Cane' by the Go-Betweens", not only have Allo Darlin', who are fronted by Australian Elizabeth Morris, captured the innocent recollections of youth evident on 'Cattle And Cane' and the warm vocal style of Kirsty MacColl, but in the shape of guitarist Paul Rains have also achieved the sort of jangling guitar sound that the legendary Johnny Marr unveiled on the early Smiths' records. Obviously it's an absolutely winning combination and one that should, with the imminent release of the band's second LP, 'Europe', push the band firmly into mainstream consciousness. I'm sure, from beyong the grave, both Kirsty MaCcoll and Grant McLennan would be nodding in approval, while Robert Forster has already nailed his colours to the mast in the form of a 1,200 word review of the band around the time of their debut LP. The B-side, a classic C86 sounding 'When You Were Mine', is also well worth a listen and is a fair indicator that 'Europe' will be something very special indeed. The greatest compliment that I can pay Allo Darlin' right now is that they are the only band other than the Go-Betweens to have truly captured 'That Striped Sunlight Sound' and, having spent three of the last five Christmases hanging out in and around Brisbane listening to various wonderful groups on the car stereo, I feel able to say this with some justification.

Track Listing:-

1 Capricornia
2 When You Were Mine

Band Links:-

http://allodarlin.com/
https://twitter.com/allodarlinuk
https://www.facebook.com/allodarlinmus

Label Links:-

http://www.fortunapop.com/
https://twitter.com/fortunapop
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fortuna

Have a Listen:-