Unseen Music Unheard Words
by Steve Kilbey & Martin Kennedy
REVIEWS and COMMENTS
The distinctive voice of Steve Kilbey comes in, and I am immediately transported to one of the best concerts I saw this year. The Church managed to release one of the best records of their career with Untitled #23, not to mention the fact that their 2009 tour of the US was one of their most successful ever.
Ever since Kilbey's first solo record, The Slow Crack [correction: Unearthed], I have always known that he keeps the personal stuff for himself. In all honesty, though, I think just about everything he has done as a solo artist would have fit within the context of The Church. Unseen Music, Unheard Words certainly backs up this impression. There is not a song on here that would have sounded out of place on Untitled #23.
Apparently, the disc was recorded in an interesting manner. Martin Kennedy of All India Radio and Pray TV created the music, then mailed the tracks to Steve Kilbey, who then wrote lyrics to fit. Kind of an Elton John/Bernie Taupin situation in reverse. What the two of them managed to come up with, though, is quite extraordinary. Leading off with "Eyes Ahead," Kilbey sets a tone of solitude, longing and loss that pervades the album throughout.
Depressing? Yes.
Beautiful? That too.
Like Mark Lanegan's first [correction: second] solo LP, Whisky For The Holy Ghost, or Chris Bell's I Am The Cosmos, Kilbey reaches into his own heart of darkness. The results are as deeply moving as anything I have ever heard.
The pain of "Stretch Into The Stars" is so real, it is difficult to describe. Kilbey presents a break-up on Valentine's Day that obviously destroyed him. The song is followed by the more upbeat "Maybe Soon," which balances the previous hurt with a dose of new possibilities. This is the brilliance of the perfectly titled Unseen Music, Unheard Words.
I cannot deny the contribution of Martin Kennedy's music, because all of it fits so incredibly well. But this is a record that delves deep into the soul of a true poet, Steve Kilbey.
He is an amazing talent. Right up there with Van Morrison and Nick Drake, as far as I am concerned. Like Neil Young's On The Beach, this is a record that speaks to people who may not be so impressed with the latest Pop thrills.
Kilbey's record label, Second Motion, is offering a pretty sweet deal to people who order straight from the site. In addition to Unseen Music, Unseen Words, they are offering a bonus ambient/remix version, plus eight Martin Kennedy illustrations. These are definitely some worthy extras, and the way to go as far as I am concerned.
At a time when Steve Kilbey's work with the Church is among the best in his career, it isn't a surprise that this new collaboration with Australian musician Martin Kennedy is another solid recording. Considering that Unseen Music Unheard Words was written in two distinct phases, it's a remarkably cohesive album. Kennedy, whose band All India Radio have created several instrumental albums influenced by the likes of Ennio Morricone and Boards Of Canada, recorded the music first and then Kilbey wrote the lyrics to what were essentially completed songs. The mood is definitely lighter than on the last album by the Church, Untitled #23, but it's hardly upbeat, plus there is an underlying bleakness in the lyrics that's the most gripping part of the album. That doesn't necessarily translate into a record that is easy to listen to. Like some of David Sylvian's work from the past decade, the songs are more concerned with creating an atmospheric mood than following any conventions, and that is one of its weaknesses. Those meandering songs hang around longer than they should and the album is just too long at 51 minutes, especially because it works best as a whole rather than listening to isolated songs. Unseen Music Unheard Words succeeds because of Kilbey and suggests that there could be a more striking product of this collaboration in the future. This will do nicely in the meantime.
It's tough to find two musicians better at creating vivid worlds of sound and vision than Steve Kilbey and Martin Kennedy - especially on the same continent. With the Church, Kilbey has been charting the cosmic waves of Australian space-pop for 30 years. Kennedy has written and produced eight albums of ambient instrumentals for his Aussie ensemble All India Radio, a band that features cinematic architecture as good as anything by Air or Tortoise. The two have teamed up on Unseen Music Unheard Words, with Kennedy composing the music and Kilbey adding world-weary vocals.
These 12 songs dream up a whole new planetoid of celestial downtempo music, circling moons with names like Pink Floyd and Thievery Corporation. The record flows as naturally and unobtrusively as musical lava - molten rock full of symphonic guitar work, melancholy synth, supine lyrical poetry and vaporous background effects. Songs range from sunbursts of acoustic guitar ("Maybe Soon") to dark, bass-y electro ("Naked as a Star"), mixing serpentine violin with female backup vocals and echoing drum machines. A companion piece to the Church's 2009 Untitled #23 and All India Radio's 2009 A Low High, Unseen Music adds another level of mystical power to these otherworldly artists.
It would be hard to review a Steve Kilbey CD without referring to his iconic status as the voice of The Church. That out of the way in line one, it is fair to say Kilbey takes second billing to instrumental collaborator Martin Kennedy (All India Radio). The record was created in unconventional circumstances with Kennedy producing a collection of warm, soporific soundscapes in Melbourne before handing over to Sydneysider Kilbey to overlay rich, emotive vocals and trademark poetic, often absurd, lyrics.
The result is successful, if not life changing. The album's moody pulse occasionally hints at, but never fully delivers, more definite interjections. It is less a collection of tracks and more a total-immersion soundtrack to an overcast, Lynchian dream-sequence. Listeners familiar with the low-fi mystical approach of artists like David Bridie will be pleased, as occasionally will followers of Portishead and other artists with suitably downbeat motifs.
The CD reminds how glorious Kilbey's voice can be, even when kept on such a tight leash as it is here. The highlights (including The Other Place and Maybe Soon) are when Kilbey cedes lyrical dominance and relaxes into Kennedy's musical scenery. Unfortunately, there are numerous occasions where Kilbey's challenging poetry obstructs the fluid, psychedelic sounds from flowing freely - the opening Eyes Ahead an early casualty.
The album reveals an instrumentalist mastering his craft and the ability of a supreme vocalist to radiate warmth. The combination is an ethereal, wistful daydream of an album worthy of consideration. Unexpectedly, however, Unseen Music Unheard Words made me want to discover more of All India Radio than revisit The Church classics.
The collaboration between Steve Kilbey, lead singer, bassist and main lyricist for Australian rock legends The Church, and All India Radio's Martin Kennedy came about in an unusual way. The two had no contact for the first year of the project with Kennedy sending musical tracks to Kilbey through Kilbey's brother John, who also appears on the album. Kilbey then added his lyrics and vocals, completely independent of Kennedy, before they finally got together for the mixing process.
Given the circumstances, this type of scenario doesn't always work, but with the talent involved it shouldn't come as a surprise that it melds so well here. Twelves tracks where the vocals and music were recorded completely independent of each other combine to make a cohesive, lovely listening experience.
The Church are best known in the States, of course, for their masterpiece of atmospheric rock "Under The Milky Way". Kennedy sets this album upon a foundation of atmospheric, sometimes ambient tracks, with electronics, guitars and soothing, tranquil keyboard swells. It's a relaxing listen, even if Kilbey's lyrics touch on deeply personal, sometimes painful, subject matter.
After a solid, if uneventful opening, the album really takes flight with fourth track "Maybe Soon" and never lets up. Highlights include the melancholy "Thought Of Leaving", "All Is One", which boasts a lush chorus, and the downtempo, horn kissed "Love Increased". The album closes with it's most gorgeous melody, the piano and acoustic guitar led "Friends Are Gone". It's a perfect way to end a mesmerizing musical journey.
Despite the odd arrangements these songs were recorded under, Kennedy's enchanting music works well with Kilbey's distinct voice. If only every collaboration turned out this splendid.