Reviews
DUST - DUSTSONGS
“An assured debut album of psychedelic influenced folk/country rock, delivering spacious fragility and solid intensity in equally astonishing measures…Marvellous!” Thee Sonic Assassin, Sideways through Sound, 2NSB, Sydney, August 2007
DUST - DUSTSONGS
“Lets hope Dust settles on Melbourne’s music scene for many years to come if the Northcote band’s first album is anything to go by. The five-piece group’s first album ‘Songs’ was launched last week and is already getting airplay on 3RRR and the ABC. This mature and sophisticated album brings the best aspects of progressive folk, psychedelic pop and alternative country together in a way that is fresh yet nostalgic. There are shades of artists who came to prominence in the ’70s such as Jefferson Starship, Pink Floyd, Neil Young and Fairport Convention. But this band uses these influences to create something exciting. The loose, dreamy and atmospheric first track ‘The Message’ sets the tone. Other standout tracks include the sensual ‘I’ll Bear Witness’ and the gently melancholic ‘Set Apart’.” Julia Irwin, Preston Leader, August 2007
DUST - DUSTSONGS
“We found your music to be moving and inspirational”, Anna Sildever, Office of Senator Bob Brown, August 2007
DUST - DUSTSONGS
“With the album “Songs”, Dust prove there is room for another genre. A gentle interplay between technology and played instruments is brought together via sophisticated production that delivers a kind of psyche/alt/country that is very easy to enjoy, but the more you listen, the more you find.” Tim Richie, ABC Radio National, July 2007
DUST - DUSTSONGS
“The production, music, vocals/harmonies all sound fabulous….it is as psychedelic/folk/alt.country should be” Cheryl Byrnes, Country Music Capital News July 2007
DUST - DUSTSONGS
(www.terrascope.co.uk/Reviews/Reviews_July07.htm)
Way back when, before the Terrascope was still a mere twinkle, I used to write for a magazine called Bucketfull of Brains. Some of you may remember it. It went through several editorships, each person subtly guiding it in whichever direction their own tastes veered towards. I stepped on board during the “Folk-Stomp & Psychedelic Rowdies” era curated by (my good friend and founding editor) Nigel Cross and bailed out during the “Paisley Underground & Power Pop” years favoured by Jon Storey. Since then editors such as “Hoss” Hutton and Nick West have guided it more towards alt.country and Americana.
I was reminded of all this when listening to the debut album by Dust, not to be confused with the 1971 power-trio in the Grand Funk Railroad mould who counted amongst their number Marc Bell, later to become Marky Ramone. Or indeed several other bands sharing the same name down the years. Formed in 2004, This Dust are a 5 piece band from Melbourne, Australia. The band feature Ann Marie Sullivan on lead vocals, Nicole Skeltys on keyboards, Mark Gardiner on guitar, Gavin Vance on bass, and drummer Dave Bower.
Their sound fits the post-Nigel Bucketfull era, Paisley Underground glove very snugly indeed. It’s a sound that incorporates psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and guitar interplay in a folk rock vein that owes a debt to a wide range of 1960s West Coast pop and garage rock, from the Buffalo Springfield to Crazy Horse, from Creedence Clearwater Revival to The Mamas and The Papas. Think Pandoras (especially given the female harmonies) and early Walkabouts: an intoxicating mixture of country twang, melancholy folk and urban scrawl, all with psychedelic overtones. It’s all warmly nostalgic and atmospheric, helped along by pristine production. Standout numbers are the opening ‘The Message’, with echoes of the Rain Parade in the guitar coda; ‘Set Apart’ which references Opal; the complex, middle-eastern tinged ‘Indrawn Breath’ (Game Theory spring to mind here), and the closing ‘Cotton Seeds’ which is pure Dust and, I suspect, a staple of their live performances. I like it - then again, I have been in a somewhat nostalgic frame of mind just lately… (Phil McMullen)