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She's The DriverShe's The Driver Reverberation I've been doing this CD reviewing thing for a while now and without wanting to appear all Journo McWrite-Write, generally I can knock something up on the first few listens. It's not that there's a formula per se, but when faced with a new band - especially a new independent band - it's not all that tricky: note a few obvious influences, comment on the artwork (which, in this case, is unlikely to make you pick the record up: I've seen worse, but alluring it ain't), a recommendation or a warning and there's your 300 words. OK, it's a formula. Thing is, I've spent weeks - weeks, I tell you - trying to review Melbourne's She's The Driver. I could rattle off influences without any trouble: I'd bet that singer/songwriter/guitarist Sean Miljoen has a few Sonic Youth and Swervedriver albums in his collection, for example, but the fact that much of the record was recorded as a guitar'n'drums two piece means that their wall of sound element aren't prevalent, which leaves the arrangements to prop the songs up with little support and turns songs like Losing into a sparse lament rather than the drab overdrive-fest approach that a conventional quartet might take. It Never Ends is a languid slice of guitar-pop while the opening Mars makes me nostalgic for 90s Melbourne should've-beens Ripe. However, the killer is Coming Out, which turns a relentless drumbeat and single guitar notes into a tense, paranoid groove. If this is the sort of thing that people were talking about with the potential shoegazing revival - leaving the guitar effects aside and relying on the crunch and melody of Ride, The Telescopes and My Bloody Valentine - then it can't come soon enough. I'm not expecting to hear a better Australian album this year.  |
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