If there is something that remains of the mythical Melbourne Mafia, this is it. Harry Howard, he being the brother of the late Roland, Edwina Preston, and the pillars of spouse rock – Dave Graney and clare Moore – raise the roof of the garage again. As the NDE, the Near Death Experience, connotes, this is no One Direction saccharine pop. Of course you have to get past the garish hot pink cover first, as striking as it is.
Working on a fairly limited theme, Pretty is a coherent record, honed and polished by gallows humour. Harry Howard has a nice way with his lyrics. He keeps them minimal and streamlined, like a surgeon working without anaesthetic. One slip and it could be fatal. Thankfully the scalpel is handled with mastery and there is nearly a break in the lacework.
Dave and Clare revisit their Moodist past as the amps are flicked to rock mode. If you are taken by an opening salvo titled Wanted To Live you will like the rest of this work. Howard gives the hint that he has messed with the Devil and lived to tell the tale. Full of the dirty entrails of love gone wrong mixed with the certain heroism found in the “ragged man and tattered girl”, hear Let Them Live. Deliciously unbalanced and a raunchy grind of degenerate rock that could only be derived from experience.
It helps that Howard has an unmistakable voice. Singular, like his brother, and not the type that would be favoured by technical vocal experts. But it suits the looks, the sound and packs a crunch. Oddly, Surround Me reminds of Temptation Inside Your Heart. And like The Velvet Underground, the NDE may not be much loved but will be dearly admired by the devoted few for their laconic abrasiveness. And more power for that.
BY BRONIUS ZUMERIS
Best Song: Let Them Live
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: THE FALL, CRIME & THE CITY SOLUTION, JON SPENCER, SPENCER P. JONES
In A Word: Ferocious
