In much the same way Little Red defied the trend of increasingly-overproduced garage rock with the ‘50s-inspired Listen To Little Red back in 2008, The Sugarcanes is a refreshing breath of air competing against the hollow musical affectations we’re often subjected to.
The opening track Testify is pure neo-soul, playing off the keyboard-driven conventions of gospel and rhythm and blues perfectly to set the atmosphere. The Sugarcanes prove immediately that they aren’t pretenders pining for the Motown era. The line “we fuck it up again and again” feels like a very deliberate attempt to jolt you from those assumptions and reposition you to perceive this LP in a modern Australian context.
The Sugarcanes feel human – there’s a rawness to the album that screams of unapologetic musical integrity. There’s so much to love here, from the twangy Southern American guitar work of Come See About Me to the bluesy doo-wop love ballads Oh Darling and Forget My Name. It’s on tracks such as the latter that Lucy Wilson’s powerful vocals truly shine through. She has a passionate, explosive vocal capacity that injects a commanding liveliness into each note. Her vehemently tender performance on tracks Tour Wife and Make It Up To You in particular will break your heart.
Meanwhile, Big Man and My Man boast a sassy horn section and keyboard combination that is irresistibly boppy. There’s a true purity to the fun they evoke. The album isn’t perfect; lyrics like “Hold my head / I wanna run / You look like you could be lots of fun” on the track Never Trust A Girl In Love won’t exactly challenge the senses. To criticise on lyrical content alone, however, would be to completely miss the point. The Sugarcanes do what they do well. They’ve taken conventions from an established style and done them justice, refining them to a sparkling degree. The Sugarcanes is classic rock and soul in the form that it was always intended to evolve into.
BY JACOB COLLIVER
