It's been more than a year since Mouth to Mouth was released in Australia, the land where The Blackeyed Susans hail from. The album has recently been released in the States, and that's good news for American readers. The band have been through a number of line-up changes since they formed back in 1989. At the time, the band was one half members of the ever-so-brilliant Triffids. These days, however, Blackeyed Susans are more or less Rob Snarski (ex-Chad's Tree), Phil Kakulas (ex-Martha's Vineyard) who were there in the beginning, and now Kiernan Box, plus a roving group of friends who come and lend a hand from time to time.
One pointer that this is a great album is that Tony Cohen mixed and helped produce it. Cohen, unsung hero of the studio, has been involved with some landmark albums such as Hunters & Collectors' early work (_World of Stone and their eponymous LP+EP album), most of the Bad Seeds' albums, Crime & the City Solution and more recently The Cruel Sea - with the latter works helping to place the sound that you will find on Mouth to Mouth.
The album's opening bars are a vintage Triffids retro keyboard sound, but the similarity soon fades as the listener becomes aware of a big electric guitar churning it all up, with black Cave-like lyrics: "My father cast a shadow over me/As it was so shall it be/You're the final result in a very long line/You will carry the mark handed down over time". The second song "She Breathes In", is a hybrid sort of rocker, between Died Pretty & Cruel Sea. Pounding beat and full throttle vocals pulled together by quiet passages.
"Let's Live" is a slower number, replete with violins and cello, and I think it is this track that makes you realise that Blackeyed Susans are not just clones of what the aforementioned bands, but are very clearly tracing out their own path. "Hey Buddy" confirms this impression. Another slow number whose lyrics, out of context, could be considered as attempting to be Nick Cave "Hey buddy got a light?/Can you tell me if it's day or night/Seems that I'm a long, long way from home." This then, is the crux of the matter. Is it a fault to resemble the Bad Seeds? I think not, since I once read someone trashing Nick Cave as a white boy attempting to be Muddy Waters. So things cancel each other out, and with that out of the way we can sit back and enjoy the rest of the album.
The following track, "By Your Hand" is a gorgeous slow ballad (How without you I'm condemned/To misery without end/How to life this flame was flamed by your hand). Elliptic verse signed by McComb & Snarski.
What doesn't work out right? "I Can't Find Your Pulse" is a bit too vague: the vocals are a bit too quiet in the mix, the thump... thump... thump... of the drum is too loud and the song trudges forward interminably. I'm also not to sure why the album was named Mouth to Mouth. The track of the same name is certainly good, but in terms of slow ones, I think "By Your Hand" is much better.
After this quiet interlude, the band comes back strongly: the keyboards kick in, a strong riff on an acoustic guitar, backing vocal courtesy of Kathryn Wemyss: "Mary Mac"; after you've heard it a couple of times it's difficult to avoid not wanting to singing along (i.e.: bellowing at the top of your voice) yourself. And what a great finish.
Then, if you can imagine R.E.M. (more Buck than Stipe) with a pedal steel guitar, you come close to having the idea of "Shadow Of Her Smile". The album closes with a mournful "The End Of The Line". Over the past couple of decades, Australian artists have been absorbing American Country, and have slowly molded it to Australia's unique geography and psyche. This song, as much as any other, is a good example of this absorption.
There is a very good web page for the band. I mention it here because it's difficult to find: too many hits of Blackeyed Susans, the flower, and not the band. I eventually found it by searching for The Triffids. It's at http://connexus.apana.org.au/~amckinna/sus-home.html
