There should be more songs about Australia, for no other reason than it would make me happy. Perry Keyes has been very good to me: Sunnyholt is a ten-song symposium on gentrification, and specifically, the forced relocation of inner-city working-class dwellers to Sydney’s west.
As is probably to be expected, Keyes’ plays up the rock’n’roll – in fact, Sunnyholt sounds like a stripped-back John Farnham or Jimmy Barnes. Indeed, Keyes lists his influences as “Elvis Presley, The Velvet Underground and the Parramatta Speedway.”
Combining local identity and the pub rock, Sunnyholt comes across as a very Australian album. It’s straightforward, honest, and unlike many bands mimicking long-gone genres nowadays, it’s legit. The music and the lyrical content are one and the same for Keyes when it comes to authenticity.
However, the pinpoint focus of the album’s lyrics – Sydney suburbs are constantly name checked – greatly restricts its accessibility. While dislocation and poverty, for example, may be common experiences, knowledge of Sunnyholt Rd, Botany Bay or Glebe isn’t.
Good on Keyes for singing about Australia, but otherwise it’s an unremarkable album.
BY NICHOLAS HARTMAN
