Unknown Country – Broderick Smith (Liberation)

Broderick Smith doesn’t really need to tailor his albums to please anyone anymore. Realistically, it wouldn’t matter what he does, he’s not going to receive widespread radio airplay or get his videos on television or suddenly have a new mass of fans turning up to his shows. He has enough credits in the band to avoid the need to prostitute himself at this point.

With this in mind he’s able to make an album that is designed to please only himself (and possibly the other musicians who choose to play on it). Once its made he can hope that as many people as possible get to hear it in the knowledge that a reliable percentage of those people are going to like it enough to buy it. Or not.

The practical and probably inevitable result of this is that Unknown Country is a sprawling, unedited affair. But that can be a good thing. The subject matter of this collection of songs is so diverse that is appears to completely be without a theme. The subjects range from the Bali Bombings to the Tasmanian Aboriginal activist Jack Napoleon, from New Orleans street poetry to the sport of boxing and from Colonel Tom and Elvis to Joe Byrne, the apparently most eclectic member of the Kelly Gang.

Yet somehow Smith and his main collaborator Matt Walker manage to draw these songs together through the use of a force as unifying as the lyrics and themes are divergent. That unifying force is the music – music that is collectively tastefully woven, dark, melancholy and spacious. These’s plenty of sonic texture across the album but it’s often the result of subtly murmured parts rather than adamant music statements.

Smith’s voice is the lead instrument though. He sounds weary and resigned as if he is carrying the weight of the stories he is relating and the difficult histories of the individuals that populate the songs. It’s a unique voice – at times he sounds like Lou Reed would if he were singing Australian bush ballads, at other times he sounds a little like Neil Young and sometimes he evokes Harry Dean Stanton in his most ponderous times. But in every case he sounds unmistakably Australian.

It’s an album that rewards being listened to in its entirety even if that is unapologetically a challenging process to endure. It can be heavy going due to the uncompromised way the songs are presented. Make no mistake this is not “easy listening” music.  There are certain songs that do deserve to be singled out. The most sonically challenging song is The Ring, a almost industrial sounding examination of boxing. It’s followed by Smashman, a slinky blues shimmy that is a amazingly vivid look at the life and motivations on tow-truck drivers. Who would have thought?

Walk Into My Soul is a beautifully simple song that’s more western than country while a trio of songs on the middle of the album Crazy Mary, Jack Napoleon and Mary The Larrikin collectively make up a missing chapter from the secret history of Australia.

The album’s title and opening track is a beauty. It’s like an Australian reply to Chris Whitley’s Big Sky Country and with that song it share’s a starkness and spirit of place that is at once foreboding and enthralling.
It is a fine way to open an admirable album.

Brod Smith New Album Coming

Following his successful appearance on Rockwiz (hosted with aplomb and a strange orgasmic intensity by Tex Perkins) the iconic Broderick Smith returns to recording early in 2009.

In actual fact he has done the recording bit and he’s up to the releasing bit.

Produced by Matt Walker, Smith’s new album is called Unknown Country and  it features Shannon Bourne and Matt Walker on guitars  and no less than Garth Hudson (The Band) guesting on some tracks.  Brod not surprisingly contributes vocals and harmonica.

The album is described in the following evocative way on Brod’s website: “It’s stripped back and true. It’s from the heart of a man and the heart of the land. It’s about dark forces and ordinary people caught up in events they may not be able to handle.”

That sounds like something worth hearing.

Smith of course has been responsible for a number of truly great Australian songs including Way Out West, Faded Roses and My Fathers Hands

Smiths duet with The Grates’ Patience Hodgson (who is either quirky and interesting or deeply irritating depending on your point of view) showed Brod is still in good voice and given that the album is released as part of the Liberation series you can expect that it’s a quality release.

Broderick Smith has already listed a number of dates on his website for 2009.

18 Jan      Moonee Valley Racecourse, Moonee Ponds, Vic
24 Jan      Milton Hall, Milton, NSW
08 Feb     Young & Jackson’s, Melbourne, Vic
22 Feb     Grand Hotel, Yarra Glen, Vic
06 Mar     Port Fairy Folk Festival, Port Fairy, Vic
13 Mar     The Brass Monkey, Sydney, NSW
14 Mar     The Vanguard, Newtown, NSW
15 Mar     The Heritage Wine Bar, Sydney, NSW
21 Mar     Don’t Tell Tom, Brunswick, Vic
22 Mar     Dandenong Workers Club, Dandenong, Vic
04 Apr     The Studio, Geelong, Vic