NOISES AND OTHER VOICES - Noises and Other Voices (Mr Suit)
If Died Pretty were one of the Australian bands to consistently matter in the 1980s and into the '90s, anything involving former members will always have big boots to fill. And so it is with the debut album by Ron Peno and Brett Myers, vocalist and guitarist respectively for Died Pretty, as well as its songwriting heart and only constants.
This album snuck out just before Xmas 2006 and little wonder I didn't notice - it's as low-key a renewal of the Myers-Peno partnership as possible, short of leaving their names off it entirely and calling it Klaatu. The cover's as anonymous as anything Died Pretty ever delivered to the printer's shop, and the inside photo shows Myers gazing at the ground and pondering his next archeological dig with Peno apparently blinded (and obscured) by the light.
The 11 songs are not as anonymous as the artwork, but occasionally it's a near run thing. If you have a problem with the last two Died Pretty albums, "Using My Gills as a Roadmap" and "Everydaydream" - and on balance I didn't - you're not going to be rapt in "Noises". Just like on those discs, Ronnie's well into his falsetto thing and Brett Myers' accompaniment is light on the guitar and heavy on sequencers and drum machine patterns. So be warned.
There's the occasional return to the searing guitar of the earliest Died Pretty albums ("Give Love a Chance" and the psychedelic lines that burn through "Caution to the Wind") but for the most part Myers is happy to lay down lush acoustic textures. The closer, "One Long Road", is also one long song at 5min48sec but there's a piece of Myers' guitarwork here that's worthy of Richard Lloyd at his most explosive. Pity Ronnie had to rely on gated vocals for the first half. His voice is one instrument I prefer to hear, relatively raw.
As they wound down, Died Pretty were moving into these sorts of sounds and looped rhythms, and a few of these tunes were apparently part-formed ideas and/or demos left off their final albums. "Follow Me" is one song that grows with repeated listens. "Jesus Out of Bounds", on the other hand, almost collapses under the weight of its etherealness. "Don't Cry (Everything's Fine)" is really hooky, and while I can't get past the prominence of the sequencers, my four-year-old son loves it.
Don't know what I really expected but Ron's magical partnership with Kim Salmon in the country-ish Darling Downs probably had me hoping for something more organic. There are obvious limitations in playing as a duo (hence the drum machine) and it's apparent that some of these songs were originally intended as demos, so let's hope the follow-up reverts to prior form. Score a copy here. –
The Barman
