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Simpatico
Club Life EP
Matinee Recordings/MGM
Jason Sweeney: is there anything he can't do?
Despite a steady release schedule that most artists would gasp at (two albums a year on average, plus a handful of singles, compilation tracks and the odd online streaming art project), it has to be said that Sweeney has yet to make a bad record: last year's full-length Simpatico release, 'The Difference Between Alone & Lonely', was one of my top five Australian releases (and his other projects, Other People's Children and Pretty Boy Crossover, weren't far behind), so it was with some enthusiasm that I put on 'Club Life'.
I wasn't disappointed. Sweeney might have put the verse/chorus/bridge songcraft of his early Millards/Sweet William days behind him, but Club Life is still the closest to a "single" that he's ever released - it burbles along on restrained keyboards, threatening to burst into a huge Dubstar chorus that never comes, perfectly matching the unresolved lyric. Then there's the sweeping keys of the closing Self-conscious, which has a low-key Pet Shop Boys vibe, matching the similarly resigned Inseperable. Sweeney's lyrics have always been memorable, but he's hit a new plataeu here: "You're a gay clich\u233\'8e if there ever was one," he sighs on First & Last Warning, "listening to Shirley in the morning."
I'm still waiting for Jason to come up with the hands-in-the-air disco classic that I know he's capable of, but in the meantime the fact that I have a new Sweeney record every couple of months is a delight that I've yet to tire of. If you've yet to become familiar with his work, 'Club Life' is the perfect introduction.
Andrew P Street
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