Rating: *****

Label:  BMG

Augie March have delivered the distinctive, accomplished and restrained debut they've been threatening to ever since forming in 1996.  Somehow otherworldly or out-of-time, it's difficult to place wholly within any strand of Australian music, perhaps falling somewhere between the dreamy melodies of Gaslight Radio and the highly conscious historical and literary songwriting of Nick Cave, but standing quite alone, sounding nothing like either.  Something to do with coming from Melbourne and reading a lot of Keats' poems, perhaps.

The overall tone is quite sombre and often eerie with an antique charm.  You can imagine parts of it being played on a gramophone record, decades ago, an impression aided by the archaic poetic language throughout and the wartime imagery in the title track and "Owen's Lament".

Songwriter Glenn Richards's prolific talent for melding poetic lyrics and gorgeous melodies is in full effect on "Here Comes the Night", along with previous singles "The Hole in Your Roof" and "Asleep in Perfection" which reappear here.  "There is No Such Place" is also world class, Richards's fragile falsetto gentle but distant, singing "Things that I have longed for/Peaceful nights, strangers at the door".  "Tulip" must be one of the most sweetly heartbreaking songs ever composed.

The title track delves into some interesting atmospherics, bringing the role of the band forward behind Richards, whose presence dominates throughout.  Electric guitar is used very sparingly, with much beautiful acoustic fingerpicking and effective use of piano, banjo and violin notably influencing the antique feel of many songs.  "Men Who Follow Spring The World Round" is a reworked 16th century folk song, while "Heartbeat And Sails" has a sea shanty cheerfulness, somehow strangely familiar but archaic at the same time.

An epic at 75 minutes, the album's ambitious arrangements and carefully evocative production succeed.  It's slightly unwieldy at first, reflecting in its diversity and length the span of time over which the songs were written.  The album is sparse where it could have gone over the top, thoughtfully structured where it could have just ridden through on a good hook, almost every song gathering slowly before finally taking flight.  Beautiful.

                      Kelsey Munro

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