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Band Members
Ben van Grootel - Bass, Vocals
Chris James - Drums, Percussion
Jona O' Neill - Guitar, Vocals
Karlin Courtney - Guitar, Keyboard
Le Craft - Vocals, Lyricist
Rachael Aquilina - Violin, Glockenspiel
Tracklisting
1. I Borrowed The Light
2. Tokyo Dance Circus
3. Attack That Gentleman
4. Moon Fever
5. The Poet's Paper Boat
6. Sunshine Apartments
7. The Departure: Part One
8. The Departure: Part Two
Hot on the heels of rave reviews of their live shows and positively received debut single Attack That Gentleman, young Australian sextet Streetlight return with a self titled mini-album effectively clearing the decks of old tracks before they start afresh for their debut proper.
Now, first things first – isn’t a mini-album just an EP? Or is it something shorter than 30 minutes? I don’t really know the specific statistics or definitions, only that this album is 8 songs, 35 minutes long and worth the listen.
Streetlight have been touring these songs for the past few years, playing any venue that would have them, and it works wonders for each song’s structure. Everything from the glorious I Borrowed the Light, to the tension in The Poet’s Paper Boat, and the sense of ease in The Departure: Part Two appears battle tested and ready for analysis and acceptance.
Seasoned fans may be disappointed by the fact that there is no new material they haven’t heard live in concert, somewhere on the blogosphere, or on the rare releases the band have previously pressed. New fans may be disappointed by the fact that, without Styrofoam Lovers, the song that first garnered the band praise and plays on their local radio stations, this album represents an incomplete statement of the band’s genesis. If this is an exercise in clearing the decks – as the band have stated – why not create a complete document for their fans?
Nitpicking aside, there are many people who will pick this album up with no knowledge of the band previous to this release and very likely they will not mind whether this represents a ‘true representation’ (and I use the term loosely) of the band or not.
What these fans will find is bottled lightning. The band are lauded for their kinetic live shows, where they bounce around the stage while singer, lyricist and occasional tambourine man Le Craft flails like an epileptic at a Daft Punk concert, and this energy is captured faultlessly.
The production is top notch, meticulously adding colour to compositions that are angular and spiky one moment, then taught and tense the next. The compositions are also written with space for each member of the band to shine, and each member duly provides several standout moments. But it is violinist Rachael Aquilina and the aforementioned Le Craft that direct the most attention.
Aquilina’s creatively used violin is what sets the band apart from most other young guitar bands and she adds much needed release throughout the tension and terror created by the rest of the band. Her contributions is most notable on album highlight The Poet’s Paper Boat where her swaying intro evokes a calm and dreamy ocean, before the exceptional drumming of Chris James kick in and Aquilina plucks the strings in staccato. As Craft screams, ‘Oh God, I’m in the movie now’ it’s obvious the storm has come.
Craft is developing into a confident and magnetic frontman, and live he demands much of the attention. While he still has some way to go before he is as strong on record as he is live, he displays vivid emotion, wailing patchwork poetry with all the intensity of Berlin era Bowie. The cobbled together nature of his lyrics also aptly lend themselves to the way in which musical fragments rise and fall throughout compositions.
Stark, dramatic, violent, and ultimately cathartic, Streetlight aren’t just about teenage kicks – in this post-911 age, few things are. Ever since James Dean personified an age group lost at sea in a world they struggle to get a grasp on, teenage angst has always been seen with a mixture of misunderstanding and bemused interest. Streetlight have created a mini-album which provides a snapshot of an age where nothing is as solid as ‘older’ and ‘wiser’ heads would like us to believe, and everything is as fluid as the next bar of music – whichever way it evolves.
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