Pond frontman and abstract thinker Nicholas Allbrook returns with his second solo album Pure Gardiya. There’s always been a certain mythos surrounding Allbrook, making him one of Australia’s more intriguing performers. Pure Gardiya is a difficult listen, combining his surreal take on life with harrowing imagery that’s likely to trouble even the most hardened listeners.
Opening track In The Gutter features delicately strummed guitars accompanied by a piano, which features prominently throughout the album. The gentle arrangement is juxtaposed with the intensity of the lyrics, setting the tone for an album that comments candidly on the state of Australian politics. Advance follows this lead, borrowing lines from Advance Australia Fair to comment on our sense of national identity and the atrocities that mar the country’s past.
Pyramids and Cranes is a mournful track; the strings create an unsettling atmosphere, enhanced by the downtrodden lyrics. Blow Up Saxophone is Allbrook at his most distressed, frankly chronicling the life of a suicide bomber. Billy Leary appears to be a character study, but it’s also a rather troubling snapshot of Allbrook’s fragile mental state. The song’s climax may leave you exhausted, but the calming Karrakatta Cemetery provides some relief, even though the lyrics are once again pretty hard to bear.
Pure Gardiya is crammed with ideas implicit of a troubled psyche. It’s not, however, a cry for help or attention. Rather, Allbrook’s here to expose listeners to the disturbing nature of life so that we can work towards some kind of resolution.
BY HOLLY PEREIRA
