The self-titled debut from Melbourne-bred, New York-based outfit Free Time is defined by a warmish tension between sunshiney pop and progenitor Dion Nania’s resigned singsong loveletters – making it impossible to discern whether he’s trying to lift himself up or drag himself down. “When I’m not with you, the world stops.” – a one bar rest, then we’re back in with the mitigating “It doesn’t stop, but it becomes a ticking clock, a watched pot.”
Velvet Underground’s New York cool seemed a world away from The Go-Betweens droll Australian suburbia some three decades ago, now Free Time have neatly tied these reference points into a full circle. The geographical influence is explicitly prevalent on the somewhat homesick, alienated Here & There – “New York was there, but I didn’t care.” The pop affinity is buoyed with a myriad of deft, subtle touches – the Knopfler-esque guitar noodling sitting just below Unified Europe’s surface, the stripped back and swirling melodies on World Without Love which eventually pay off with a very welcome pan flute solo.
In the end, it’s optimism which wins out over a pervading sense of hopelessness, empowering Nania’s nasally croon as a tool of endearment rather than dread. “It’s alright, even when it’s not alright,” he comforts on It’s Alright.
The album’s nine tracks sustain an impeccable standard throughout, culminating in the jammy triumph of Nothin’ But Nice.
BY LACHLAN KANONIUK
Best Track: It’s Alright
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Loaded THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, Calendar Days DICK DIVER
In A Word: Heartwarming
