Sydney Rococo
by Steve Kilbey
REVIEWS and COMMENTS
Aside from the great Slim Dusty, Steve Kilbey must rank alongside Ed Kuepper when it comes to naming our most prolific artist.
But after more than 20 solo albums and nearly 30 albums with The Church, he remains an intriguing character. He moved to Australia when he was just five, but still has an English accent. Kilbey's new solo album is a love letter of sorts to Sydney, celebrating both its beauty and its dark side. "The lonely city does not sleep or keep her promises to you," he sings.
Some of Kilbey's solo work has been a little out-there, but Sydney Rococo is a thrillingly accessible collection of shimmering pop-rock gems. Check out When I Love Her She Sings, an instant Kilbey classic. Sydney Rococo also showcases what a fine singer Kilbey is. Indeed, he could be one of our most underrated vocalists. His voice is an instrument that creates an atmosphere on its own, with genuine presence - a voice so distinctive that as soon as you hear it, you know it's Kilbey.
And even when he's telling dark tales, it's an instrument of beauty: "The lonely city makes me smile."
Steve Kilbey is still a bit of a secret in this country, but he has been an Australian legend for a long time now ... he is musician, painter and author; having written over 750 songs and 3 books resulting in a total of 51 albums released to date - 30 with his well known band The Church. Now he brings us a wonderful solo album, a declaration of love to the Australian metropolis. Amazingly, we witness how the 64 year old songwriter has mastered the craft of songwriting. So many pieces on this "long player" are songs for eternity: the atmosphere created by the seasoned string arrangements on the title track, the psychedelic "Distant Voices", the moving piano ballad "The Wrong One" or the glam rock "Night Is Coming". With time, this very talented man from down under will finally be appreciated!
The Church's leading light takes us home with songs of loss, heartbreak and treachery.
8/10
In addition to thirty albums fronting The Church, Steve Kilbey has released twenty solo offerings. 'Sydney Rococo', the latest. takes us behind the heart and soul of Australia's biggest city. 11 songs and 47 minutes of steady, heartening pop rock akin to Ed Kuepper, Underground Lovers and Marty Willson-Piper. The psych-rocker Steve started out his solo career in 1986 releasing 'Unearthed'. Gradually he has moved away from his psychedelic sound towards straighter pop records. His solo records were released irregularly throughout the '90s and early '00s aside working with The Church. The title track is less guitar driven than The Church, but still a nod to the '60s with strings ever so slightly referencing 'Eleanor Rigby' at the end. As the most commercial song on the album. 'When I Love Her She Sings' could actually be a hit single while 'Nineveh'serves up a catchy delight of massed vocals, rock guitar and strings. This is an album of contrasts held together by Kilbey's instantly recognisable and exquisitely distinctive voice. A slight mid-album lull is rescued by the final trio of songs; 'The Lonely City' is half spoken with a tasty falsetto interlude and 'Lagoon,' the best track of the collection, has an inventive use of synthesised strings and a nice build. 'Traitor Signals' is a moody closer that's impossible to ignore.
★★★★☆ (4 stars out of 5)
Something very strange has happened to Steve Kilbey. The voice of the Church has run a parallel solo career throughout his 40-odd-year musical journey, but generally the albums released under his own name were lower-key affairs than his band releases. That's clearly no longer the case. While the Church is still very much a going concern—the band has just wound up a tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of its classic album Starfish—the confident Sydney Rococo is second to none. From the first listen it's clear that none of the songs on the album could have easily been Church numbers. That's impressive, since they mainly feature a similar guitars/bass/drum set-up (with a band that includes former Badlove member Jak Housden and Models' sticksman Barton Price, plus ethereal backing vocals from Robyn Lau) but the layers of piano and strings push them in fascinating new directions. The production, too, is decidedly un-Churchy, with Kilbey's voice placed up front and centre. The agenda-setting title track is an affectionate love letter to his home city. It's also laugh-out-loud funny, thanks to lines such as, "When the pingers wear off, they'll bring us something to eat". It's matched byI Love It When She Sings [sic - should read When I Love Her She Sings], the sort of big-chord pop song Kilbey hasn't written in a long time. At the risk of destroying Kilbey's reputation for wry, introverted mystery, this is possibly the most outright joyful he has sounded since ... actually, perhaps ever.
Aside from the great Slim Dusty, Steve Kilbey must rank alongside Ed Kuepper when it comes to naming our most prolific artist. But after more than 20 solo albums and nearly 30 albums with The Church, he remains an intriguing character. He moved to Australia when he was just five, but still has an English accent. Kilbey's new solo album is a love letter of sorts to Sydney, celebrating both its beauty and its dark side. "The lonely city does not sleep or keep her promises to you." he sings.
Some of Kilbey's solo work has been a little out-there, but Sydney Rococo is a thrillingly accessible collection of shimmering pop-rock gems. Check out When I Love Her She Sings, an instant Kilbey classic. Sydney Rococo also showcases what a fine singer Kilbey is. Indeed, he could be one of our most underrated vocalists. His voice is an instrument that creates an atmosphere on its own, with genuine presence—a voice so distinctive that as soon as you hear it, you know it's Kilbey. And even when he's telling dark tales, it's an instrument of beauty: "The lonely city makes me smile." (Golden Robot)
★★★1/2 (3.5 stars)
Der Chef von The Church mit einer Liebeserklärung an seine Heimatstadt
Nachdem sich The Church zuletzt im 37. Karrierejahr mit „Man Woman Life Death Infinity“ nock prächtig in Form präsentierten, bleibt Mastermind Steve Kilbey auch jenseits davon umtriebig. Einem Duo-Album mit Martin Kennedy lässt der große Renaissance Man des australischen Psychedelic Pop nun ein weniger experimentelles Solowerk folgen. Elf Songs lang verbeugt sich Kilbey mit „Sydney Rococo“ vor seiner Heimatstadt - eine Liebeserklärung, die eine Portion Leiden einschließt und mit „Sydney Morocco“ auch mal musikalisch zu selbsterklärend ist. „When I Love Her She Sings“ klingt wie eine Single, die Bowie in den Achtzigern gern gemacht hätte. Und über „The Lonely City“ fliegt Kilbey mit ungebrochener Präsenz einfach so hinweg. (Golden Robot/Soulfood)
Approximate English translation:
The boss of The Church with a love letter to his hometown
After The Church presented themselves in great shape in their 37th year with "Man Woman Life Death Infinity," mastermind Steve Kilbey proves he is constantly striving. After a duo album with Martin Kennedy, the great Renaissance Man of Australian psychedelic pop follows with a less experimental solo work. For eleven songs, Kilbey bows to his hometown with "Sydney Rococo" - a love letter that includes a portion of suffering and is sometimes musically a little too obvious as with "Sydney Morocco." "When I Love Her She Sings" sounds like a single that Bowie would have liked to do in the Eighties. And over "The Lonely City" Kilbey flies away with an unbroken presence.
Has anyone else noticed a trend lately to drench perfectly good music in an avalanche of overly high-in-the-mix orchestration? I don't know why so many top artists are doing this—is it an ego trip or just an attempt to make things sound "different"?
What I do know is that Steve Kilbey, founder member of one of the finest bands of the past thirty years—The Church, and one of the best songwriters of his generation has dipped his toe in the water—to mixed results.
I have followed antipodean band The Church since those halcyon days of the mid-eighties, where a run of great jangly psych-rock albums such as 'The Blurred Crusade', 'Heyday' and particularly 'Under The Milky Way' just blew me away when so much else was all that New Romantic bollocks.
Thirty Church albums and 21 solo albums (not to mention Jack Frost with Grant McLennan) into a stellar career, we arrive at 'Sydney Rococo'—five years in the writing and something of a love/hate letter to his home town.
Things get underway with the title track which introduces said strings immediately, but then those oh-so-familiar vocals cut through and you think 'this is going to be OK'. And it is, mostly.
It's at its best, as is most of the album, when the strings drop out and allow the band to get on with it and do what they do. Occasionally, and again this happens a few times throughout the album, the strings are almost painful on the ears—imagine the shower scene from 'Psycho' at high volume...
Things calm down beautifully with 'Distant Voices' with its strummed acoustic intro and typically off-kilter Kilbey lyrics set against some lovely piano cascades, and 'When I Love Her She Sings' whose chiming guitar chords could have come from any Church album of the eighties—isn't nostalgia wonderful?
'Nineveh' ups the pace with its staccato guitar riff and almost rap-like vocals, but this segues into a glorious chorus. As with most things Kilbey—expect the unexpected. Have to say though that more strings over-complicate what is a quite simple song.
'The Wrong One' whose lovely piano figure and subtle backing vocals press its case as one of the highlights here—the inclusion of strings, on this occasion, enhance rather than dominate.
Other highlights include the delicate acoustic riff of 'Lagoon', the driving psych-pop of 'A Night Is Coming' (although the strings overpower again), The Church fan's chiming guitar nirvana of 'The Lonely City' and the piano-led closer 'Traitor Signals'.
Despite my ranting about the orchestration, this is an extremely satisfying album full of great songwriting and great songs—I would expect nothing less of Steve Kilbey.
In the absence of orchestration, or using it to merely round-out the sound, this would be a nailed-on five stars—as it is, and it pains me greatly... ★★★★ (4 stars)
★★★★☆ (4 stars out of 5)
The penultimate track, "Lagoon" is another album highlight—soulful, graceful, and engaging; rich with beautiful instrumental ornamentation. Finally, Kilbey wraps up Sydney Rococo with the inspired and impassioned piano-oriented song—the heartrending and lyrically poetic "Traitor Signals."
He may not be as popular as Johnny Marr nor as Peter Hook, but Kilbey has surpassed so many of his peers in terms of the volume of released works. Sydney Rococo is another addition onto his unending list of musical accomplishments.