It has been forty-five years since Steve Kilbey and Martin Kennedy didn’t quite meet. The former was on stage with his recently formed band, The Church; the latter was a smitten audience member, but a bond was formed that day that has since resulted in them collaborating on around 20 albums.
And for all those getting ready to say, it won’t be as good as the music Kilbey has made with that iconic band, prepare to be shocked. Of course, this isn’t The Church, but nor is it merely someone trying to keep the fans happy, and with Martin Kennedy responsible for the music, why would it be? But it does sit in a similar place, a place where swirling psychedelia and dreamlike infectiousness, emotive sonic states and decisive lyricism all dance together. Less a Church-alike band, more the songs of someone who could easily have co-headlined with them during their finest hours.
From the aptly named “Reverie” and its delicate, chiming swathes of guitar and lightly drawn musical lines to “Dysporia’s” scalding and squaling intensity, and from “Turkey’s” mix of escapist, romantic lyrics and arabesque sounds to the folk-infused “Things We Did,” the album covers a lot of sonic ground. But as it does, the songs found here still feel consistent and connected, not always directly or even necessarily sonically, but always artistically and emotionally.
There is an old cliche about quantity and quality, suggesting that you can’t have both. Here, however, are two musicians able to work at a rate easily labeled prolific, whilst hitting creative benchmarks that others can only dream of.