Tuesday, January 02, 2007

SubSecond Album

SubAudible Hum - In Time for Spring, On Came the Snow (Low Transit Industries)

I didn't really quite get Everything You Heard Is True, the first SubAudible Hum album, released in 2005. Puddle of a Nation is certainly a rabble-rouser but little in the rest of the album really tickles the funnybone. It's alt-guitar stuff in the vein of early Radiohead, though occasionally slipping a bit mainstream, like in the sport soundtrack bait Heroes.

In Time for Spring, On Came the Snow, with an unwieldy yet appealing title, is the follow-up, and it's a definite step forward. It's better recorded, for a start, but the songs are also an improvement. The first single Sugarcoat is a standout, a rollicking anthem with full-band harmonies on the chorus, reminding (not for the last time) of Augie March - think "TRAIN!" Unsurprisingly, the second single is also a standout, All for the Caspian building slowly under a yearning melody line and anti-bad people lyrics, invoking Halliburton in the usual derogatory sense.

But these are by no means the sum of the album. Science Maketh the Scientist is Elbow's Leaders of the Free World but upbeat and with real blood in the delivery, into Killer Bees (These Are Not) a fun drive with a bit of The Dears' britpop revival sound. And then the understated Plankton vs Krill, straying once more into a Radiohead vein with touches of studio experimentation; I love the backgrounded fading drums. Strings pepper the album, used to most effect during the quiet-loud thing on Fire Out at Sea.

The album's a really solid work, rewarding more each listen. JJJ-ish guitar rock, but don't be put off; there's depth in these songs and arrangements. It'll reward long after that buzzy new-wave band have faded.

[stream SubAudible Hum at their myspace]
[and see their (ageing and out of date) website]

[GIG: Saturday Feb 24th @ The Northcote Social Club, more dates at Mess and Noise]

3 Comments:

Blogger Jaime said:

Great job on representin' for Melbourne. This is now my Mecca for Melbourne music news...something that seems to be lacking on the net these days.

11:05 pm  
Anonymous Owen C said:

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3:15 pm  
Anonymous Owen C said:

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3:26 pm  

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