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Source: Green Guide Issue:
Date: Aug 11, 1994
Subject: Review - Sometime Anywhere
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SOMETHING ANYTHING (?)
SOMETHING ELSE (?)
REVIEW

The transformation of the church into a studio- based group, after shrinking from a conventional four-piece to comprising only singer and bass player Steve Kilbey and guitarist Marty Willson-Piper, has yielded a dense score of giddy acid rhythms, dreamy lyrics and synthesised washes. Something Anything is psychedelia updated to incorporate all of the Brian Eno-pioneered electronic ambience with 1990s technology.

There is barely a noise on the noise that hasn't been remoulded and smoothed into a wistful soundscape, flowing gently underneath Kilbey's half- serious Guru lyrics. They have almost completely discarded the traditional rock drums and guitar riffery of previous albums, preferring to trance out on the dance floor. Rhythmically they employ drum loops and added layers of percussion that U2 also thought were necessary to stay relevant in the age of dance music on Zooropa.

There is no song as irresistible as Under The Milky Way on Something Anything, but Steve Kilbey has produced on of his most charming melodies on Loveblind, the current single. Several other songs strike you as worthy studio experimentations that in no case could be reproduced live.

Studio albums by bands that can no longer continue touring have a tendency towards lopsided self- indulgence, but the quality of the music on this album and its ability to exude a gaunting, cloudy ambience make this album worthwhile.

SA also includes a seven- track bonus disc, including Drought recorded live in Amsterdam, which strikes me as something like the Church's spiritual home city, and a collection of other noddlings by this imaginative duo.

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