The Drones - Havilah

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

4...according to our Brett on Fri 13 Feb, 2009.

Everything's drone nowadays. Except The Drones, who aren't. They've got a sort of jerky, hard-edged country rock type schtick going on with a definite infuence from the sleazier side of fellow criminal descendant Nick Cave. There's just a little hint of mathiness to it too. Phil mentioned Buffalo Tom. I'm mentioning Neil Young when he goes all rock. The vocal ticks, dramatic pauses and stop-start dynamics kind of annoyed us all on first listen but giving it another go it's starting to make a bit more sense.. I'm not 100% convinced but it's got all the hallmarks of a grower. Havilah's released through ATP with a fancy embossed digipak CD one and a limited LP one. WITH DOWNLOAD CODE WITH DOWNLOAD CODE

The Drones follow up the critically acclaimed albums ‘Wait Long.....’ (ATPRCD18) - "A potent amalgam of The Birthday Party, Green On Red and ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ " (4/5 in Uncut) and ‘Gala Mill’ (ATPRCD22) - "A heady storm of garage-bred blues, post-punk intensity and Crazy Horse-style amp overload" - (4/5 in Mojo) with ‘Havilah’ , created in the foothills of Mt Buffalo, once goldfield territory, outside the town of Myrtleford in Victoria, Australia.

Havilah, like everything The Drones have done, is an album of contradictions, where bombast meets beauty, melancholy wrestles with violent guitars and singer Liddiard’s incendiary voice lights up his angular poetry, this time on the nature of, in no particular order, the moon (Penumbra), divorce (The Drifting Housewife) and the acquisition of
godlike power and the cult of John Frum (I Am the Supercargo).

It’s an album that’s brimful of the innovation and artistic integrity that has made The Drones one of Australian rock’s most critically acclaimed acts here and overseas during the past four years.

There are vaguely familiar nods to Neil Young’s paint-stripping guitar spasms on Supercargo and Oh My, while the deliciously meandering pop dirges of Suicide and the Velvet Underground echo in Careful As You Go and Luck in Odd Numbers.

Deluxe embossed CD + Limited Gatefold double LP with free download.

Track Listing: 1. Nail It Down 2. The Minotaur 3. The Drifting Housewife 4. I am The Supercargo 5. Careful As You Go 6. Oh My 7. Cold And Sober 8. Luck In Odd Numbers 9. Penumbra 10. Your Acting’s Like The End Of The World

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