EMMA RUSSACK – SOUNDS OF OUR CITY

I’m not sure which city Emma Russack lives in, but either way there is little on this album that sounds much like my city of Sydney. The rumble of King St, Newtown, nope; the bustle of Oxford St, Darlinghurst, don’t think so. Not that that should caste any aspersions on the album, oh contraire. Following her EP/mini album of 2010, Sounds of Our City is Emma Russack’s first full length release, where she can fully stretch those languid vocal chords over the breadth of an album. And languid is the word for it, slower, softer is the musical tone, as the instrumentation often forcibly holds itself back, to allow Russack’s hushed but forceful vocal style to ride comfortably on top of these ten songs. Think Mazzy Star with some pedal steel. A break-up album, these songs ache of longing for the most part, without being mired down. If you have the guts to open your debut album with: ” Tonight I’m gonna go out, get drunk and find someone to take me home/ No great expectations, anyone will do” then you have set a brutally honest tone and if you carry it through as well as Russack does then you deserve to be rewarded. The listener is.

*** 1/2