(2014) Rob Snarski - Wounded Bird
Review:
For the longest time the dulcet voice fronting The Blackeyed Susans (among other projects), Wounded Bird is Rob Snarski’s debut solo venture and – given his pedigree – a requisitely beautiful affair.
Recorded by Shane O’Mara – aided by Snarski’s long-term arranger and confidante Dan Luscombe (Drone/ex-Susan) – it’s an immaculately-crafted batch of songs delivered with intricate panache by a stellar cast of guest musicians including JP Shilo, Clare Moore, Bruce Haymes and Phil Kakulas.
From the subtle, Triffids-esque Australiana of Temperature’s Rising to the emotional hues of The Black Caress, it’s smooth and sultry enough to coax life and love back into the most damaged of souls.
It’s fitting that Wounded Bird features a faithful rendition of The Everly Brothers’ evergreen ‘So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)’, because there’s an innocence to Snarski’s music that harks back to a simpler, bygone era of pop embodied by acts like The Everlys, Ricky Nelson and Roy Orbison. But even the innocent can feel desire, and Wounded Bird reminds the listener there’s no desire without the potential for betrayal or loss.
Album opener ‘Tender Like a Bruise’ embodies this dichotomy – is Snarski singing about a lover or an addiction that turns his “eyes to pins”? In the muted melodrama of ‘Henry Small’, does the title character retreat into alcoholism to mask the pain of love lost, or was it the drink that sent his lover away in the first place? You can imagine ‘Johnny Only’ being sung by a ’60s girl group like The Chiffons or The Shangri-Las, until you realise the lyrics are about a gay man hiding his sexuality from family and friends. It’s not the only song here with a complex approach to gender and point of view: ‘Christmas Card From a Drunken Sailor’ could be a festive companion story to Brokeback Mountain, but is written with enough mystery to leave it open to interpretation.
Rating 8/10
Tracklist:
01 - Tender Like A Bruise
02 - Temperature's Rising
03 - Johnny Only
04 - So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)
05 - One Last Song
06 - The Lay Of The Land
07 - It Starts With Snow
08 - Henry Small
09 - The Black Caress
09 - The Black Caress
11 - Engine Driver
Summary:
Country: Australia, Melbourne
Genre: indie-folk, indie-pop
Media Report:
Source : CD
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : ~679-876 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
