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ClinkerfieldTake In The View Independent How much alt. do you like in your country? Melbourne's Clinkerfield are all about the strumming and the confessional, storytelling lyrics, but it's hard to imagine them not getting beaten to death by ute-driving Lee Kernaghan fans if they turned up at Tamworth, for instance. Then again, when you see titles like the opening Pissin' Down In Colbo you can probably guess they're not The Hot Lies. It's a jaunty introduction, complete with "bup-ba-da" singalong chorus, and showcases the band's rootsy charms. It's a hard act to follow, but the melancholy A House Is Not A Home changes gears with a circular finger-picked chord progression, while the slow-building Resigned is only let down by some rough harmonies. The record drifts from there, before the closing voice-and-piano ballad Begging For Time Like Loose Change ends things on an emotional note. The band's decision to limit the release to seven songs is a shrewd one: while the songs are all good in themselves, the uniformity of sound - cracked vocals, piano, acoustic guitars - means that a full album would possibly be a bit of a chore (and would it have killed them to cut a couple of minutes off Begging For Time...?). The band would be advised to take a leaf out of the urban-country book of the Audreys or The Yearlings and add some extra instrumental elements to their studio palette: there are moments such as Ash On The Bed, Ash On The Floor where I can almost hear a lonesome pedal steel. In any case, good though 'Take In The View' is, you just know that this is music that would sound its best whilst you're nursing a frosty pint of pale at the Grace Emily.  |
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