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The Church |
| Uninvited, Like the Clouds |
| Cooking Vinyl | 2006 | Album |
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The last time I was up on what Australia's The Church were doing, they were MTV favorites with "Under The Milky Way" a song that became one of those anthologized, unforgettable songs from the 80's that provided no real context or direction for the band. Think of Dexy's Midnight Runners, without the call and response, dance floor capacity. All told, the song "Under The Milky Way" found the light of day on more than twenty compilations and might still be counting. Although this is clearly not a record -- my guess would be something by Soft Cell, it has kept the down under wonders in the flow of those all so important royalties.
But as is most often the case, the body of musical work provided by The Church isn't comprised of a single song and a lot of chaff. With twenty album length releases, there is more than enough evidence that the jingly guitar pop band from Sydney is more than a one song phenomenon. The most recent record in that large catalog is Uninvited Like The Clouds a twelve track effort that marks as one of the finest in recent years, some would say their finest since 1992's when Priest = Aura earned the coveted "underrated" label. While many people have compared The Church to the likes of Crowded House and XTC, they aren't the purveyors of anthems or bundles of quirky new wave rock ditties. The more accurate connection might be to The Psychedelic Furs or Echo and the Bunnymen -- progressive, beautiful but driven by a moody type of miasma. Vocalist and bassist Steve Kilbey's voice draws on dark places, like Brendan Perry of Dead Can Dance, adept at bringing the listener into a near dreamscape environment. Songs "Block" and "Day 5" are rambling, sometimes trite fields of imagination with deeply affecting melody. It's something of a world pop collection, highlighted by "Easy" the most cohesive vision among the lot.
This is what The Church has been doing all these years. The ideas and execution on Uninvited Like The Clouds make for a decent album for fans of the rock veterans. It isn't enough though, to draw in the uninitiated to the fray, perhaps too long in the tooth now to expect to break into new ground. |
| Erick Mertz |
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