Nipaluna/Hobart-based singer-songwriter Cathy Diver hasn’t revealed much about Everything’s A Car.
She’s mentioned the importance of spending time in Glaziers Bay (population: 93 according to the 2016 census). One track is called Lookin’ At Kunanyi, which surveys Mount Wellington, in the south-east of Tasmania.
There are many vivid landscape references (red soil, windy beaches), timestamps (“coming down dusk”) and a barrage of exquisite lyrical phrases: “tattered and ephemeral”, “waiting in the wings ever after” – we recommend diving in blind and basking in the intrigue.
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You can tell Diver’s debut album is lovingly crafted: instrumentation meticulously selected to serve individual songs (slide guitar, cello and mellotron inclusive), lyrics demanding your full attention – each song unfolds like an episode in a series.
Broken homes, troubled brows, “curious stingrays”, sharks, sunburnt shoulders, “scoping out bars” and terracotta balconies – listeners are pin-dropped to exact locations whether they’ve been there or not.
Take This From Me opens with what sounds like an orchestra warming up. “Just be honest with me, babe” – the sound gradually mutes as if we’re leaving the room, walking down a corridor and closing the door on Miller Street.
Diver sings the jangly Getaway – “You’re gonna get away with it, baby…” – with a knowing smile in her voice and a pep in her step; not exactly mad about it. “Babe”/”baby” appears in a fair few songs, actually. See also: highlight track Leavin’ The City Pt. V, which gains instrumental momentum as confidence in a decision builds: “I’m leaving the city for the gurgling sea and I hope that I’ll/ Once more see my ba-by…” – such jubilance!
The casually strummed Sylvia (“Honey, I’d do anything for ya”) opens with a lively clapping pattern before angelic, resigned “HAAA-aaaah”s breeze through.
“We burned the station wagon and made sure to melt the plates…” – driven by kick drum and meandering guitar, Holden CX 7349 is a tone shift; Ben Lee’s gorgeous Gamble Everything For Love springs to mind, for some reason.
Bats – a moving-on song (“I won’t resign to lonesome pining”) – closes with the sound of rainfall. “I’d be lying to say I don’t think about chasing you down” – this repeated realisation at song’s close brings closure.
Elsewhere, birdsong twitters away throughout Little Unsung, a gently lilting, acoustic number during which Diver sings oh-so-close to the mic; Gecko aptly ends with drum crashes that conjure breaking waves; and the instrumental Morning Jam opens with inventive drumming then closes with a satisfied little giggle.
Some songs seem to channel summers of infinite possibility, others are steeped in pain, fear or disappointment. But her joyful spirit and deep appreciation for nature’s beauty (“a tiny gecko who’s hiding its soft little belly is surely the most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid eyes on”) infuses this entire album.
“I’ve been around the block and I’ve made it back, hey,” Diver sings, and we detect heartbreak and much wisdom gained along the way.
LABEL: UNDINE RECORDS
RELEASE: OUT NOW.
