Augie March :: Moo, You Bloody Choir

What happens when you mix the artistic talents of a poet with the commercial sense of songwriting from a talented group of Australian musicians? You get Augie March. You could say they are slightly equivalent to America’s Midwestern barfly storytellers, THE HOLD STEADY, or if you know your Australian literary rock bands, you could say they are similar to THE GO-BETWEENS or YOU AM I, two of my favorites. AUGIE MARCH have been around Melborne, the state capital of Victoria, for a dozen years. Their debut came out in 2000, but their first US release was in 2002. They’ve won awards, lost a member and are now releasing their third CD called ‘Moo, You Bloody Choir’. It’s being distributed in the US by Jive/Jamba Music Group. Originally recorded somewhere between 2005-2006 and hit the US streets in June 2007, ‘Moo, You Bloody Choir’ is filled with poetic pop songs that don’t lack hooks or harmonies. Main poet Glenn Richards’ suggestive words move together and intertwine with the accompanying music. The CD starts off with the single “One Crowded Hour”, a song that’s first minute and a half is just a finger picked guitar, a voice, a faint organ, and 80-something well selected words about falling in love with someone you’ve known for years. This CD is filled many different sounds and instruments that lay as a back drop to the many story lines of these songs. Like the dueling guitars and strings on the melodic “Stranger Strange”. Or the slow seductive groove of “The Honey Month” with its Dixieland jazz intro, including bells and brass. There’s the distorted-guitar driven rock of “Just Passing Through”, a remake from their 2000 debut ‘Sunset Studies’. Followed by the banjo-driven “Thin Captain Crackers”, that was written while looking out Glenn’s bedside window overlooking the street below. They almost go overboard with the 7 minutes of heavy bass and drums on “Clockwork”. I really liked the piano and acoustic guitar of “Bottle Baby”, which comes across as a dark alcoholic Dylan or even Nick Drake. Other influences can be heard on the Jeff Buckley meets Leonard Cohen in “Victoria’s Secrets” or the country-tinted Paul Westerberg sounding song “Mother Greer”. All in all, this CD is like a movie; not a lot of action, but some damn good dialog. I give it a thumbs up.