BRITISH INDIA – AVALANCHE

For a band that has seemingly taken most of Australia by storm, British India retain some of  their humble roots in their high-profile rock n roll. The band’s youthful energy is palpable, and their violent garage-rock beginnings have not been entirely lost in their delivery, but what strikes me on listening to this third album from the Perth hipster garage kings is how clean it sounds and feels – it’s been produced with glistening precision by Glenn Goldsmith, revealing all the pugnacious immaturity in Declan Melia’s lyrics with full clarity. The music, when it’s rocking along at high-octane crunch such as in 90 Ways To Leave Your Lover and Messiah, is pretty effective; and so too are there radio-friendly pop hits sitting waiting throughout – Avalanche and Nowhere Boys for example. And there’s even a moment of classic rock that would make The Screaming Jets jealous in the swinging Vanilla. So in a way this is a rock album that ticks all the boxes for broad mass-appeal. But one can’t help but feel there is something missing in all this – maybe it’s the pure adrenalin of filthy garage rock taken one step too close to ARIA-pleasing formula.

**1/2