Issue 487

Eddy Current Suppression Ring Rush To Relax Shock The rise and rise and rise of Eddy Current Suppression Ring seemingly cannot be stopped. The Melbourne four-piece are a rollicking group, to be sure, but why have they connected the way that they have? What sets them apart from others who have either failed to match their great live ability or capture the zeitgeist is that Eddy Current don't seem to be trying; they just do everything so easily. So it is with their third album. Recorded in the space of a mere six hours for the price of a slab of beer, 'Rush To Relax' bristles with the live energy that the band are capable of creating. It's no surprise to discover that it was recorded in a rehearsal room at Revolver in Prahran: it's an album that's up close and personal, much like the experience of seeing the band live. Best of all, it's also an album that finds the band stretching their wings and allowing their music to push and pull in different directions. It's on the longer numbers like the title cut, Turning Out and particularly Second Guessing that the krautrock grooves provided by the rhythm section of Brad Barry (aka Rob Solid) and Danny Young (Danny Current) come to the fore. They've always been there - the closing Turn Your Page from the band's debut album, for instance, hinted at this - but here it's rendered so perfectly, allowing guitarist Mikey Young (Eddy Current) to use his guitar with restraint rather than bludgeoning force. On 'Rush To Relax', he's more of a textural presence than a melodic one, keeping things simple but oh so perfect. The influence of Television is pronounced at times, but ever so welcome. All the while, Brendan Huntley (Brendan Suppression) is doing things that he's never done before. He's always been an enigmatic force, an absolutely commanding presence, but now on 'Rush To Relax' he's singing from the heart. Gentleman is a straight-up love song without disguise, while I Can Be A Jerk is so self-deprecating that in other hands it wouldn't have the endearing nature that he manages to bring to it. Punk blasts come in the form of Walked Into A Corner and Isn't It Nice, but they're used more as antidotes to the relative sweetness that's predominant throughout 'Rush To Relax'. That the band have produced three albums of such top-notch quality in the space of four years is proof positive that Eddy Current Suppression Ring are be one of the most special bands Australia has produced in the last decade or so. Andrew Weaver