Released May 6, 2016
This album nearly flew under my radar. I heard the single ‘Champions’ on TheMusic.com.au’s new release Spotify playlist (highly recommended) and although the band name and singer Marcus Gordon’s interesting voice intrigued me, I listened once and then forgot about it.
Then after reading a write-up on them in the weekly AIR (Australian Independent Record Labels Association) email, I decided to give Spookyland another chance. And I’m so stoked I did, because it’s one of the surprise packages of the year for me so far.
It’s an odd album, really. It’s both different from anything else I’ve heard, yet has some classic rock band elements that are extremely familiar. Style-wise it has a lot going on – elements of Americana, classic Oz rock, a bit of country in there. Gordon’s voice is the key, however: high pitched and bleating, with a slightly warped Australian accent and an idiosyncratic delivery. You’ll either love it or hate it, but if it puts you off at first, I urge you to stick at it – it definitely grows on you.
The production is the other thing that sets it apart, I think. Reverb-soaked vocals, a massive drum sound, string sections, and a number of songs building into roaring crescendos – it almost sounds like it should be a stadium-rock album, not a relatively unknown Sydney band’s first official outing.
Still, the songs come out sounding great. ‘Abuse’ starts things off sombrely with a vocals-and-strings-only arrangement, before ‘Nowhereland’ kicks things off with it’s swaggering Americana. Single ‘Big Head’ is a stomping good time, with some memorable lyrics: “She’s got a big head on her” and “She doesn’t ever remind me that I’m human, or ever make me feel like I’m a god”. ‘Champions’, the single that I looked over, has since grown on me, to the point where I’ve been heard reciting “Honey, champions are made the same as you” around the office.
The rousing refrain “this is rebell-i-aaaan!” in ‘Rebellion’ makes it a highlight; the accompanying piano gives it a ‘Flame Trees’ kind of vibe, although more upbeat. For the song ‘Can’t Own You’, Gordon says they wanted to write a rocked-up ‘Walk On The Wild Side’, which I think they pulled off pretty well, adding a pedal steel in there for a bit of country flavour. ‘Gods Eyes’, as well as being my personal favourite, wins best lyric: “When His puppets cut their strings and start pulling things themselves, the roof’s off of the meek, even God’s eyes have to blink”. The album then closes with the soaring ‘Bulimic’.
Beauty Already Beautiful is one of those albums that leaves me feeling grateful to have investigated further, like I’ve been let in on an awesome little secret. If these guys take off, I reckon Beauty Already Beautiful will end up being the under-appreciated cult favourite in their catalogue. “Mate, you should hear their first album, that album is SICK.”
Favourite Song: ‘Gods Eyes’
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