Look, it has taken a decade to cajole a first album out of the super raelene brothers, a decade of sporadic EPs and raw, fuzzy silk threads that trace the Raelenes path from Adelaide’s student pubs to life in the Top End, but the sun moth is finally emerging. Its 10 tracks are over too soon, of course, but “Revolution Day” is a wonderfully uncluttered evocation of this duo’s live sound and the rejuvenating meditations that some of the tracks become when performed; voices raised in hope and thanks, unadorned steel strings and violin, kept to their lively labours by a kick drum and percussion for the congregation to share. These are songs with roots in long and undecorated campaigns for peace and for justice, treading paths from the central desert to the jetty at Normanville. Sweet Honey in the Rock mixed with eighteenth century Wesleyan hymns and the lullaby chorus of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” (for any young band playing the outback pubs, knowing this song could save your life). Those who remember them will still find traces of Adelaide band Aunty Raelene here, that collective of frocks, long hair and work boots that mixed protest and humour to rap its way through issues of global injustice and domestic absurdity in the 1990s. But there’s a little red dirt under the fingernails now, and a measured gnosticism that seems to have found its focus in the harsh clear light at the country’s heart. This is music that finds simple joy and grace in love and solidarity. An evening in its company will lift the spirits of all those seeking both. You can download Revolution Day from iTunes, or better yet, in spinning disk form as you leave their next gig. youtube/watch?v=FYAUxzvrc_s
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 13:18:06 +0000
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