Snow Job
by Jack Frost
REVIEWS and COMMENTS
The second album from this most intriguing of Australian duos comes some five years after the first, and it sounds almost as though they've been writing together all that time. In fact, the album was written entirely in the studio, and the paths of Steve Kilbey and Grant McLennan have seldom met since their 1990 self-titled debut. Despite the range on the album - from epic synth-pop ('Empire') to simple guitar-pop ('Little Song'); from hypnotic, aggressive electric guitar numbers ('Jack Frost Blues', 'Shakedown') to moments of overpowering beauty and delicacy ('Angela Carter'); from contemporary psychedelic rockers ('Haze') to full-blown electric guitar squalls ('Dry Dock'); from songs that are identifiably McLennan or identifiably Kilbey to songs that are identifiably neither - despite this breadth, it's still remarkably coherent. There's not a poor song on it, and the least of these tracks is well above average - even by the normally high standards of both these singer/songwriters. There's a more electric edge to much of the record than anybody has a right to expect from either, and perhaps because of this rediscovery of fire, it's remarkably vital and immediate.
Fans of either musician unquestionably must own this, fans of neither probably should as well.
★★★★ (4 out of 5 stars)
The long awaited second collaboration between The Church's Steve Kilbey and ex-Go Betweens' Grant McLennan finally appears, sadly on import only. McLennan told The Big Takeover in last issue's interview that, as with 1991's self-titled album on Arista, the project was "tremendous" fun and that all of the songs were written in the studio within a few days. Amazing, because perhaps even more than their already excellent but somewhat inconsistent first album, these songs are largely realized and harmonious. The opener, "Jack Frost Blues," is dramatic, and "Empire" and "Haze" are fantastic, dream-like songs in the spirit of The Church, who have always been unrivaled in this regard. The interchanging vocals, great counter-melodies, and lovely instrumentation help make this album much more for the listener than the fun the pair had recording it. Also nice to see Steve's brother, Russell Kilbey (of the superb Crystal Set) help out with some backing vocals, playing, and engineering.
Jack Frost is an occasional collaboration between Grant McLennan (ex-Go-Between) and Steve Kilbey (still in The Church). Five years ago, they came up with a clutch of bare, challenging, acoustic songs which McLennan dominated. In this more sophisticated and uniform second set, however, it's the dreamy electric sounds of The Church which reign: a gentle, rhythmic sway, close harmonies and spangly Byrds guitars, with occasional strings or organ. But it's the contrasting combination of spacey, seductively tuneful sounds and the darker, spirited drive of the songs — oblique glimpses of murder and burning cars, outsiders looking in or oddballs escaping a disintegrating society — that give these intriguing scenarios their power. Alienation, otherworldliness, tenderness and a sly, mocking humour are other flavoursome ingredients. Not surprisingly it still has a certain exploratory, what-we-did-on-our-holidays feel. ★★★★ (4 out of 5 stars)
I wasn't sure what to expect of having Steve Kilbey (of The Church fame) and Grant McLennan (of Go-Betweens fame) together on the same record having not had the pleasure of hearing their first CD, but initial listens brought a very favourable response. What really stands out more than anything else on this 13-track disc is the stunning way in which the two are able to harmonise. On You Don't Know, arguably the best track here, the two achieve a rapport that would be difficult to duplicate with all the weird studio effects known to man.
While it's definitely not a singles album, there are plenty of tracks which in a more fair world would gain their share of attention. Little Song would have the potential to be big and Jack Frost Blues would cheer anyone up with its Rock-God guitar riffs and psychedelic harmonies. The duo definitely haven't lost any of their spark, but it should be interesting to see whether the 'Frosties' can reproduce the magic it's captured here in an on-stage situation. (They did Munchy, they did - Eds)
JACK FROST
Snow Job
Karmic Hit/MDS
They may hate talking about the fact, but Steve Kilbey and Grant McLennan are respectively responsible for some of the greatest pop and mood sojourns of the early 1980s. Together with their classic ensembles, namely The Church and the Go-Betweens, they defied the fads and unashamedly went about making music that made them happy... and also managed to put a smile on the dial of a global contingent of adoring fans.
When the two got together in 1990 to record the self-titled Jack Frost debut album, it was the collaboration of two songwriting master craftsmen that made Jack Frost so special.
Six years down the track comes the release of their second joint effort in Snow Job. With a blend of vocals so perfect, it at times becomes difficult to differentiate between Kilbey and McLennan. The influences of both are obvious, but the result is a formula that comes close to seductive perfection.
From the intriguing opener Jack Frost Blues and the instant pop accessibility and guitar jangling of Aviatrix, Snow Job infiltrates into the deepest chasms ever so nonchalantly. Taste the herbal teas and retro-etched simplicity of Running From The Body, the enveloping waft of Shakedown and the slow moody web-spinning and enthralling mystique of The Church reminiscent You Don't Know, and you know you already have a karmic hit on your hands.
Weightless And Wild leaves no doubt as to the sheer genius of Kilbey and McLennan as it casts its becalming wash of melodies, somewhat Greek, Celtic shadows and wonderfully alluring beauty.
Cousin/Angel hangs more towards the McLennan domain as it works in rounds and drips ever so softly with simple harmonies, perfect dynamics and intermittent surges of guitar... contrasted by the sweetest of jangles... beautiful. Little Song is as cute as they come in its own little disposable way, before the grandeur of Empire's charm leads us into the beautifully sad balladeering tale of isolation that is Angela Carter.
Steve Kilbey reckons some of his all time favourite songs are on this one. Methinks he could be right. Mesmeric!!
Jack Frost
Snow Job
(Karmic Hit/MDS)
Purveyors of prose and wit Steve Kilbey and Grant McLennan, together as partners in rhyme. I am here talking of Jack Frost, the two headed poet that has kept us waiting for more than five years for a follow up to their 1990 self-titled debut.
One of the things I have enjoyed about listening to this album over the last few weeks was trying to pick the instigator of each song. Kilbey and McLennan have such distinctive songwriting styles that as a partnership you can't help but seek the influential overtones of each particular song. Some are, of course, 'Churchy', some are 'Go-Betweeny', and others are just 'Jack Frosty'. But I guess my point here, for those who really like to deconstruct or pick apart music, is that McLennan and Kilbey, like Lennon and McCartney, are fine songwriters as individuals in their own right, but together have a chemistry like that which underpins all good bands - therefore allows something slightly different to emerge out of the creative process.
Thus Snow Job, it must be said, is certainly as consistent a collection of great melancholy pop tunes as any Church or Go-Betweens album. Snow Job is not a collection of out-takes but a genuine, coherent piece of work.
My faves are the opener Jack Frost Blues, which surely has got to be a single, the Byrdsy You Don't Know, Pony Express (probably more of a radio song than Jack Frost Blues) and Angela Carter, a tribute to one of Kilbey's fave writers.
However, there are too many good tunes on this release, so to single out too many for individual analysis would do a dis-service to the album as a whole, which is diversely devastating and nothing short of brilliant - hope it won't be five years 'til the next one.
JACK FROST
Snow Job (Beggar's Banquet CD/LP)
Contrary to what some might have you believe, it wasn't all synths and cheap pancake back in the '80s. A significant amount of others sought refuge in a world where the Rickenbacker was God and the quest for perfect pop made earnest young men so giddy, they didn't notice that their fringed jackets looked like something out of a cheap spaghetti Western.
It was an obsession that grabbed kindred spirits Grant McLennan and Steve Kilbey (respective front men for Australian classicists, The Go-Betweens and The Church), and has now led them to reanimate Jack Frost, an on/off pairing last spotted sometime back in 1991.
"We've got some rifles and they're loaded too/We've got our sights set on you." It's hardly a new punk manifesto, but McLennan and Kilbey aren't exactly interested in new sonic frontiers. From the Soft Boys psych of 'Shakedown' to the jangling 'Cousin/Angel', Jack Frost still have unfinished business with the past.
Inevitably, their shared fixation can be a touch oppressive (the new wave dirge of 'Pony Express' is an Iggy-esque case in point), but when Jack Frost mix and match their talents and their influences, a Kilbey jangle here, a McLennan snatch of whimsy there, the results are surprisingly fresh; 'Running From The Body' is a dead ringer from anything off the last 12 Baby Bird albums.
It's a trick, sadly, they can't pull off for the whole of 'Snow Job', but while such collaborations usually signal that the muse has long since followed the hairline, it's heartening to see Jack Frost's quest for perfect pop still continues. (7 out of 10)