Great North: Soldiers (Great North)

 |   |  <1 min read

Great North: Jericho
Great North: Soldiers (Great North)

New bands often make great claims for themselves -- that is forgivable -- but I especially like the humour of what this Auckland five-piece say of their music: "It is the sound of Bruce Springsteen having a tumultuous affair with Gillian Welch" and "the songs were delivered by angels. Drunk angels. The kind you don't invite round for fear they will break your teapot or burn their wings while cooking chips".

Don't know about you, but that strikes me as funny, smart and pretty impressive to unashamedly mention Springsteen and even have the courage to cite Welch.

These people know what they are doing -- and that is evident from the opening song Black River on this too-short, five-song EP which sits confidently in the alt.country/indie rock area with acoustic guitars, piano, driving drums and some mature vocals which tell you these people have songcraft under their collective belts.

Five tracks is maybe too few to get a real handle on their scope, but everything here impresses for its vigour and assured enjoyment in making music which is far more than the sum of its influences.

From the rip through Jericho with its ragged piano interjections to the slower and deliberately considered Old Town, this one sounds like those angels, drunk or sober, were watching over them. 

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Soulsavers: It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land (V2) BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2007

Soulsavers: It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land (V2) BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2007

Suffused in religion, redemption, Christian imagery and dark melancholy (aside from the uplifting opener Revival which deliberately recalls Knocking On Heaven's Door), this is an exceptional album... > Read more

The Shifting Sands: The Shifting Sands (Fishrider)

The Shifting Sands: The Shifting Sands (Fishrider)

While no one in their right mind would have ever argued the idea of a "Flying Nun/Dunedin sound" other than a few lazy writers back in the day, you'd have to say after even just one quick... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Tommy Castro and the Painkillers: Killin' It Live (Alligator/Southbound)

Tommy Castro and the Painkillers: Killin' It Live (Alligator/Southbound)

Long-serving blues singer/guitarist Tommy Castro has been a winner of the BB King Entertainer of the Year (among many accolades) and this one recorded crisply in various venues in California, New... > Read more

JUMPING SUNDAYS; THE RISE AND FALL OF THE COUNTERCULTURE IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, by NICK BOLLINGER

JUMPING SUNDAYS; THE RISE AND FALL OF THE COUNTERCULTURE IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, by NICK BOLLINGER

In Greg McGee's 1981 play Foreskin's Lament, a central character bellows, “the effect of the Sixties on the great miasma amounted to an extra inch of whisker on the end a Taranaki... > Read more