Strawpeople’s Fiona McDonald and Paul Casserly. Photo / Supplied
Strawpeople’s Fiona McDonald and Paul Casserly. Photo / Supplied
The new Strawpeople album reminds how out of step they once were during the early 90s epidemic of grunge, gangsta rap, boy bands and Madonna.
Technology and indifference to live performance saw studio-based Mark Tierney and Paul Casserly – with guest musicians and singers, among them Leza Corban, Stephanie Tauevihi,Bic Runga and Headless Chickens’ Fiona McDonald – in the vanguard of refined, electronica-influenced pop.
Although the line-up constantly changed – Tierney departing in the mid-90s – Strawpeople delivered home entertainment for adults that included astutely repurposed covers.
Knucklebones, their first since 2004′s Count Backwards From 10 – in which Casserly and McDonald retained the ethic of measured, thoughtful pop – includes a moody remake of Baby It’s You, Canadian band Promises’ chart-topping, cloud-piercing, emotionally wrought 1979 hit.
However, despite the uneasy synth backdrop, McDonald’s constrained vocal renders the lyric more anodyne than anxious. Elsewhere are the radio-friendly Second Heart, the stridently nagging title track, rhythmically jerky Paper Cuts and the dreamy-then-dramatic Watch You Sleep.
With Joost Langeveld, Chris van de Geer (Stellar), keyboard player Matthias Jordan (Pluto), Luke Hurley (acoustic guitar on Busker) and others, Strawpeople present a collection that – other than Forgot to Forget, with saxophonist Nick Atkinson, and the tense Love Diktat, with samples of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and Pope John Paul II – only occasionally stretches their reach.
As Casserly recently said, “The vibe overall is kind of nostalgic … that’s always been the case with Strawpeople songs. They’re kind of a mournful celebration”.
A different reacquainting for those with memories and mortgages.
