Subsatellite
By Lachie Hayes
Produced by Delaney Davidson, this debut by Southland’s Lachie Hayes may have its boots in country, but it arrives with the ramshackle rock swagger of Green On Red and the Replacements on The Likes of You (“I’d rather be lying down here in the dirt than doin’ business with the likes of you”).
Hayes also pulls together the raw edge of traditional blues shaped into the harmonica-wailing Foot Stompin’ Boogie; repurposes the spirit and melody from Bob Dylan’s Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid for Lonesome Hearted Lovers (“cowboys out west go on surviving, I’ll just be a shadow out on the horizon”); and on the title track defines himself: “I got wheels within wheels … you can’t put me in your pigeonhole.”
That’s true of an album that roars out of rockabilly on Convict Guns and goes murderously folk-country for the eerily echoed, menacing S.O.B. The string-enhanced King of the Night Out on the Tiles confirms his ability to craft a song, a story and a character.
Quite a debut.
Now Would be a Good Time
By Folk Bitch Trio
This debut by Melbourne’s assertively named trio comes with local connections: recorded at Auckland’s Roundhead; co-produced with Tom Healey (Tiny Ruins, The Veils, Marlon Williams, The Chills and others) and with guest violinist Anita Clark, aka Motte, (Don McGlashan, Tami Neilson, Voom and more).
The trio deny the expectation of their name, with close harmony and sensual folk-pop, slashes of wry humour and tense folk-noir (Hotel TV, The Actor).
Moth Song is a lyrical riddle seemingly about a violent death (a mother?) and the beautiful Cathode Ray is loaded with medical and sexual imagery: “we get home, get the scalpel out”, “with a new procedure he made me glow”.
With extraordinary harmonies, subtle melodies and lyrics ripe for analysis, this impressive collection finds aspects of familiar folk bent into new and arresting shapes. It can make you catch your breath.
Burning Daylight
By The Warratahs
The Warratahs’ almost 40-year career has seen highs, line-up changes, singer Barry Saunders releasing solo albums, and the occasional hiatus.
But this album isn’t quite as new as you might hope. It collects singles from 2020 with two recent songs, two different versions of one from 2023 (Going Up North and Up North) and live recordings of some old favourites, notably Kupe’s Tears and Runaway Days.
However, there’s honky-tonk, Delta blues (the earthy The Right Time) and a shanty-like sway on Ruby Bay as Saunders considers ships going “who knows where” over a backdrop of keening violin and the tidal movement of piano.
The final piece is Storms at Sea, a fine and broody instrumental with a sample of the marine forecast.
Crisply recorded and a roadside layby in their long ride through local landscapes and emotional byways.
Now Would be a Good Time available digitally, on CD and vinyl; Burning Daylight available digitally and on CD; Subsatellite digital and vinyl only.
Folk Bitch Trio tour: Tuning Fork, Auckland, Sept 26; San Fran, Wellington, Sept 27; Loons, Lyttelton, Sept 28.
