Review Summary: Heartfelt, genuine and on the rise, Trial Kennedy's debut serves as one of the most impressive listens of the year.
Australian music, in its current state, is all about identity. You don’t want to be another pointless pub rock act, or another downtuned whatever-core band for angry boys in shorts to pump fists to. Taking a look at any of the great Australian acts of recent years- The Drones, Cog, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu et al- reveals that there is certainly a need to stand out, be heard and make your mark as an artist and as an individual.
From the bustling streets of Melbourne, Victoria, Trial Kennedy have been doing the rounds for quite some years as a not-quite original but easily likeable rock band. Despite an exceptional vocalist in Tim Morrison and a handful of great tunes (“Damage on Parade” and “Knife Light” immediately come to mind), it was evident that this was a band in need of that little extra push in order to achieve the highest possible quality in their music. This push came in the form of prolific rock producer Nick DiDia, and the result was the band’s debut album,
New Manic Art.
It is fairly safe to assume that nobody, not even the band themselves, could have predicted just what Trial Kennedy had the potential to become. And yet, here it is-
New Manic Art is not only one the truly great debuts of 2008, it’s one of the best outputs the country has seen in quite awhile.
Whist many younger bands are uncertain and unfocused, the game plan is clear for TK: hook-infested pop-rock that still manages to defy convention and think outside of the square. The openers “Sunday Warning” and “Neighbours” establish this; and what’s more, it achieves. “Sunday”, for example, presents an instantaneously catchy chorus (complete with a “Hey! Hey!” shout-along), forceful guitar chops and a driving drumbeat…all within its first sixty seconds.
“Neighbours”, meanwhile, evenly weighs out its stadium-sized ambition with substantial rock energy and simply outstanding melodies depicting a sense of unity and progression- “We’ve started our endeavour, but it’s never too late!”, Morrison sings emphatically. “We battle for the world for once, and not about a war”.
It’s all incredibly exciting upon first listen, and only gets better from there.
Throughout the entirety of
New Manic Art, the band sound adventurous, tight and, above all, unique. DiDia’s production is not a raw, rock-n-roll “just let ‘em play” kind as is typical of many Australian guitar-oriented bands. Having said that, it is certainly not a gloss-over either: the production actually gives the listener a real sense of involvement with the music itself, incorporating warm reverberation, crisp-sounding arrangements and thinly-layered but effective additions of percussion, keys and samples.
Even when analysing the sum of the parts, Trial Kennedy are a very talented band. Of course, vocalist Morrison is the most notable element of the band’s sound. He delivers every line directly from the heart, ranging from breathy, falsetto introspection on “Mississippi Burn” to commandeering yelps, such as the particularly rocking number “The Great Escape”. His lyrics, too, are inspired and much deeper than many of his rock peers. “War King” is dedicated to army engineers, originating from stories his father told (“he left alive/but lying by his left hand side/a dead body on the way to mine”). Second single “Colour Day Tours” is a determined tale of family and distance (“too many crying loud adults/and now it’s upset all the love”). The title track, meanwhile, vents frustration of business getting in the way of pleasure (“together, like a fall and rise/you take away the brighter side”).
Of equal credit, however, is lead guitarist Stacey Gray. Right the way through, Gray masterfully determines the emotion of the music with wherever his guitar and his arsenal of effect pedals may take him. This ranges from the urgency of “Sunday Warning” and “Hollowood” to the stripped back poignancy of the acoustic “Sweet Alley Rose” and the simply fantastic ballad “Mississippi Burn”; even managing to find the best of both worlds on tracks like “Sun Eyes”. Meanwhile, the rhythm section of bassist Aaron Malcolmson and drummer Shaun Gionis present consistently tight grooves, subtly mixing things up and keeping the sound of the record consistent.
Australian rock is an overcrowded scene, city regardless, so it’s quite likely that Trial Kennedy will have passed under your radar. With
New Manic Art out in the open, make sure you pay attention- this is easily the best debut Australian album of year. And precious little stands in the way of removing both “debut” and “Australian” from that sentence.
