Review Summary: Aussie musician becomes citizen of the world with a focused, intelligent solo debut.
Paul Dempsey is a man with a lot on his mind. If his body of work with evergreen alternative rockers Something for Kate is anything to go by, he’s been like this for quite some time.
With a mind full of lyrics and songs that can simultaneously be described as world-weary and openly quizzical by his fans and plain old whiny by his detractors, Dempsey has decided in 2009 it’s high time once again to get these ideas out in the open. This time, however, it’s without bassist Stephanie Ashworth and drummer Clint Hyndmarsh – Dempsey has created his latest offering,
Everything is True, entirely on his own. In light of that, we can view the record as a concise artistic expression of exactly what Dempsey himself wanted musically.
The distinctive, raspy husk that tightly laced itself through past SFK releases remains intact on Everything is True. A thoroughly competent, strong singer with an ear for great melodies, Dempsey has always had a somewhat frustrating tendency to rely on his lower range. This is in spite of the fact that it is the higher notes that he can easily soar to that have provided for the best hooks of Dempsey’s repertoire – "Monsters", "Electricity" and "California" are just a few that come to mind. Thankfully, there are hints of vocal progressions from the album’s very beginning.
Opener "Bats" sees our hero create a masterful, passionate warble over the lyric, “Nobody’s ever/gonna break your heart again.” Meanwhile, the gentle "Out the Airlock" also proves to be a delight, complete with feather-light harmonies matched to shattered-heart-on-sleeve poetry and imagery of rejection and distance: “Hijacked and hotwired/Snarled at by dogs against the chain link fence…then she tells you/she tells you you’re not home”.
Lyrically, Dempsey continues on his introspective, occasionally frustrating and ceaselessly wondrous journey that began with SFK’s debut,
Elsewhere for Eight Minutes. The excellent "Fast Friends" sees him satirising celebrity and socialite culture, “I’m all ribbons, scissors, flowers and shaken hands”. In other instances, "Theme From Nice Guy" viciously attacks his own cynicism (“I’m not saying much/Cause I get shy around bull***”) and closing number, "Man of the Moment" portrays the match made in hell of external joy and internal misery – “He could be watching ashes grow/Where all your best seeds were now just sown”. Dempsey maintains his brooding philosophical density and plentiful literate creativity that have lined his words in previous efforts. There’s something different this time around, however. It’s almost as if it has taken this solo effort to bring the focus on the lyrics that is deserved.
Everything you hear on the record (save for some trumpets, slide and backing vocals here and there) is at the hands of Mr Dempsey. Whilst many multi-instrumentalists find themselves favouring their instrument of origin above all else, there’s proficiency to be found in all nooks and crannies of
Everything is True. The percussive thump of single "Ramona Was a Waitress", the gorgeous organ on "Have You Fallen Out of Love?" and the slight country-folk twang in the guitars and harmonica of slow-burning highlight "Take Us to Your Leader" are just a handful of examples of Dempsey’s capabilities and his difficult-to-dispute versatility as a musician. It’s all very well produced, too, with interesting uses of reverberation and echoing atmosphere that create an engaging bond with the listener. Arguably much more so than Something for Kate’s last effort, the occasionally polarising
Desert Lights.
This decade has seen Dempsey release consistently good music. There are moments on
Everything is True, however, where Paul finds himself the closest he has come in the 2000s to true greatness. His musical home remains with Stephanie and Clint in Something For Kate; of this there can be little doubt. Still, it is a wonderful thing to see him exploring the world outside on his lonesome for now.
