Wilco: Moo You Bloody Choir
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Artist:
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Album:
Augie MarchMoo, You Bloody ChoirJive/Zomba (US), Sony BMG (Aus)Eight stars (out of ten)
Augie March conjure fourteen little worlds here, fourteen scenes, fourteen sets of characters. Fourteen proper songs. The band’s commitment to an idea is never less than total—every note, word and beat does its work in conveying something worthy. Over the course of this, their third album, the Melbourne group are faultlessly in control of their songs; where lesser bands fumble and shoehorn in unnecessary ideas, the confidence exuded by Augie March is evident in the supple, easy-going shape of each song.
This is confidence that can only come in time: the record connects up the pastoral glory of Sunset Studies (2000) with the jazzy lilt of Strange Bird (2002), distilling the best of both. Passed into the deft hands of Mark Howard (Tom Waits, U2, Bob Dylan, R.E.M.) for production and final mixes—plus some help from one-time Beefheart and Pere Ubu man Eric Drew Feldman—this is the band’s most sonically accessible record. Consequently, Moo has garnered the band previously unthought-of sales figures in Australia and an unlikely hit single (‘One Crowded Hour’) in their homeland.
It’s easy to let the entire set shuffle past here, so consummate is the production and songwriting, so beautiful are the melodies. But dig deep—through the layers of guitar, bass, keyboard and bloody choir—and you’ll find lyrical masterpieces and songwriting that will stand a thousand listens.
Augie March conjure fourteen little worlds here, fourteen scenes, fourteen sets of characters. Fourteen proper songs. The band’s commitment to an idea is never less than total—every note, word and beat does its work in conveying something worthy. Over the course of this, their third album, the Melbourne group are faultlessly in control of their songs; where lesser bands fumble and shoehorn in unnecessary ideas, the confidence exuded by Augie March is evident in the supple, easy-going shape of each song.
This is confidence that can only come in time: the record connects up the pastoral glory of Sunset Studies (2000) with the jazzy lilt of Strange Bird (2002), distilling the best of both. Passed into the deft hands of Mark Howard (Tom Waits, U2, Bob Dylan, R.E.M.) for production and final mixes—plus some help from one-time Beefheart and Pere Ubu man Eric Drew Feldman—this is the band’s most sonically accessible record. Consequently, Moo has garnered the band previously unthought-of sales figures in Australia and an unlikely hit single (‘One Crowded Hour’) in their homeland.
It’s easy to let the entire set shuffle past here, so consummate is the production and songwriting, so beautiful are the melodies. But dig deep—through the layers of guitar, bass, keyboard and bloody choir—and you’ll find lyrical masterpieces and songwriting that will stand a thousand listens.
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