Badlanding – East Coast Low (Crankinhaus Records)
It’s been a decade since they formed and four years since East Coast Low hit their straps on the “Seas on Fire” album, and “Badlanding” shows a band that’s even more self-assured and in control.
Is it coincidence that some of the best Australian albums of the last few years have come from satellite cities of Sydney? “Badlanding” proves that East Coast Low are as good as anything to have emerged from the grit-flecked city of Newcastle in the last 30 years.
“Badlanding” rocks hard but has an unmistakable swagger. With Rob Younger at the production helm, its varied collection of songs sounds powerful and coherent and there’s an array of sonic exclamation points apparent. Rick O’Neill’s mastering widens the soundscape nicely with no loss of edge.
Supplemented by an all-star brass section of Pete Kelly (New Christs), Rudi Thompson (X-Ray Spex, The Members) and Rob Parkes (The Porkers), the sound of East Coast Low takes off in a direction that’s soulful and rocking. The brass interplay with guitar does what the title says on “Elevate”.
The brooding “Medicine” and arresting opener “Love This Way” resound in the same way that “Eternally Yours” did when it took the Saints into another place all those years ago. It’s an obvious comparison but it's valid.
A lot of work went into the album's arrangements and that's reinforced by the soaring trajectory of songs like "Midnight Danger”.
You like guitars? There’s plenty on this record. Cock an ear to the tones on the slide-assisted “Heartbreak Hill” or the bustling “Summer Kiss” (and wait for the drums intermission from Adam Waugh in that one that ups the tension nicely.) This is a record where creative dynamics abound.
“Sound Is Life” is the record’s sleeper; the place where Michael Cornish’s weathered vocal is thrown into relief against a wall of guitars punctuated by an ascending riff. Geoff Mullard and Al Creed have well and truly gelled on guitars and constantly spark off each other.
Equally at home when he’s brooding as declaiming, Cornish delivers some outstanding vocal performances. The superb “Servant” and the brusque closer “Behind The Sun” are cases-in-point. It's not hyperbole to say that this album is as good any you'll hear this year.
Strong songs, superb produciton and killer playing. What else do you want in a rock and roll record?
