Album and DVD reviews: Kristian Bush, Soundgun, Dan Mangan and Blacksmith, Floyd Vincent and Foyle's War

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Album and DVD reviews: Kristian Bush, Soundgun, Dan Mangan and Blacksmith, Floyd Vincent and Foyle's War

Kristian Bush
SOUTHERN GRAVITY (Dog Whistle Music/Universal Music)
★★★★

Kristian Bush makes writing good country music sound easy. He has had his fair share of practice – as part of Sugarland – but creating a solo record is a somewhat different feat. With a kick of drums and its soaring guitar riff, album-opener Make Another Memory assures us Bush can hold his own. Among this album of warm, guitar-filled country rock, his vocal delivery shines, an honest balance of drawl and clarity that sets the whole album at ease. The title track brings us a nostalgic ode to home; Light Me Up is stadium-filling rock balladry on par with Lady Antebellum; while the funky Trailer Hitch warns against materialistic obsession. Think more Brad Paisley than Deepak Chopra though: "Started my day giving away/All of my baseball cards/It felt so good by the afternoon/I gave some guy my car." Southern Gravity crosses the room with confidence, offers a handshake and beams, "I'm Kristian Bush". Seems like a top bloke. JESSIE CUNNIFFE

Kristian Bush: <i>Southern Gravity</i>.

Kristian Bush: Southern Gravity.

Soundgun
SOUNDGUN (ABC)
★★★☆

Seldom has a band come up with such a perfect name for itself as has Soundgun, the local trio of Tom O'Halloran (piano), Jonathan Zwartz (bass) and Evan Mannell (drums). The sound is often lean, almost to the point of austerity, and sharply defined with unexpected rhythmic detonations. They perform expansive versions of material by such quirky pop/rock artists as Squarepusher (Journey to Needham), Bon Iver (Stacks), Thom Yorke (Eraser), Radiohead (Airbag) and Bjork (an enthralling Joga), plus an attractive Zwartz original. A fascinating tension emerges between the material, the leanness and an instinct for lushness that O'Halloran periodically allows to gush from the piano in his improvising. The piano trio format is undergoing myriad reinventions the world over, with Australia contributing bands like this and the Alister Spence Trio. Soundgun partly follows in the tracks of EST, but Joga suggests it may have its collective finger on the trigger of a much bolder reinvention in the future. JOHN SHAND

Soundgun: <i>Soundgun</i>.

Soundgun: Soundgun.

Dan Mangan + Blacksmith
CLUB MEDS [Create/Control]
★★★

Canadian artist Dan Mangan's latest album continues on from where his Juno award-winning 2011 release, Oh Fortune, left off; a collection of experimental, swirling, layered and intricate tracks which sometimes build and explode, or lay almost dormant for their entirety – always intriguing, never boring. It's a far cry from his first two records, which were more in the singer-songwriter vein. Here his collaboration with a slew of Vancouver free-jazz artists, which began on Oh Fortune, carries on even further, hence this being his first record credited as himself and Blacksmith. Lead single Vessels swells and gets bigger and bigger; A Doll's House / Pavlovia sees his distorted voice swirl over a simply plucked guitar with electronics creating heat behind. This is a theme throughout the record – a soundscape, always considered and complex, is created but the focus is on his voice; melancholy yet direct, bringing the focus to his thoughtful lyrics. Not an easy listen, but a rewarding one if you put in the time. SAMUEL J. FELL

Floyd Vincent and the Temple Dogs
A LITTLE SATURDAY NIGHT MUSIC
(floydvincent.com)
★★★☆

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Dan Mangan + Blacksmith: <i>Club Meds</i>.

Dan Mangan + Blacksmith: Club Meds.

It makes perfect sense that Floyd Vincent should cut a live album: the guy has virtually lived on the road for the past 25-and-bit-years, firstly with his Childbrides, now out front of a trio named the Temple Dogs. (He's slowed down in recent years due to family, but only a little.) Just like any great gig, Vincent covers all bases here, leading with the fleet-fingered, flamenco-styled picking of Blue Decade and getting his Latin rock thing on during 1000 Miles In My Mind and King Carmine, all the while working his way up and down and all around the fretboard like the crack guitar-slinger that he is. (He really cuts loose on Buddy Miles-via-Jimi-Hendrix's Them Changes.) Granted, these lively jams are more for sticky carpet-lovin' middle agers than cool kids, but it's a handy snapshot of a guy who continues doing things the old school way. JEFF APTER

DVD
FOYLE'S WAR, SEASON 9
★★★☆

Floyd Vincent and the Temple Dogs: <i>A Little Saturday Night Music</i>.   floyd vincent cover.jpg

Floyd Vincent and the Temple Dogs: A Little Saturday Night Music. floyd vincent cover.jpg

The World War II is long gone as we meet again former policeman-now-MI5 officer Christopher Foyle (and the marvellously named Honeysuckle Weeks, playing his somewhat occasional driver and now occasional operative, Sam) but its after affects are always present across these episodes. You see it in distrust of "our American cousins", fear and loathing of the comrades from Russia who were former comrades in arms but now candidates for corrupt behaviour, or the resonations from decisions made when expediency ruled and people were merely bodies. The gentle pace of this show doesn't mean pleasant outcomes, though, and the final episode's startling climax is no happy ending. That said, in a country mired in the gloom of rationing and an idealistic government meeting relative penury, not every joy has to be crushed in a family-friendly crime-ish show. BERNARD ZUEL

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