Steve Davenport
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Tall Poppies music is like sex to the ears
If you like expressive, idiosyncratic, quirky lyrics, dilettantish music and meticulous production style, you’ll adore Thursday, by Perth’s Tall Poppies.
Although most bands think they are unique, few are. Tall Poppies, twins Susan and Catherine Hay and younger brother Alexander, are possibly inimitable. The music is whimsically clever and its lyrical storytelling is enigmatically amusing while grasping the imagination and daring it to think outside the circle of the CD.
Tall Poppies, the debut album is an atypical recording with an unconditionally mature sensibility. It’s like reading an anthology of subtly complex, great short stories. Each tale has a fruity flavour, unique character and infinite delicacy. Imagine watching Chocolat while sucking on a piece of Amedei Chuao and you’ll understand the sensuality in Tall Poppies music.
Bass guitarist, Susan Hay has a singular voice while guitarist, Catherine has a supple evocative vocal technique. They sound similar to Shakespeare's Sister with a pinch of Kate Bush and a dash of Ute Lemper but with an optimistic upbeat pop quality that is difficult to define. This combination makes the sound a smidgen funky but not too funky.
Time Machine is the stand out track; its style owes as much to poetry, dance and film as it does to music. It is a catchy time travelogue reminiscent of Kate Bush’s Cloud Busting but more in story telling quality than musical similarity. All Tall Poppies' tunes have a theatrical touch with undertones of cabaret and classical Hollywood musicals but retain a strong integrity.
Songs such as Better Off Dead, Funky, Butter Fingers and Only A Nomad, are like sipping on a cappuccino, looking through a café window and drinking life through a straw; sumptuous and superlative.
In Drinking Life, St Ives, Chameleon, Cocoon and Don’t Leave, musically much happens but much more is implied. There are some wonderful laid back melodic guitar riffs mixed with a smooth segue of string quartet lines in these songs.
Tall Poppies combine pop with theatre and literature. All wound up with themes - such as love, lust and jealousy - that expose the magnificence that is the ripe female mind. Think Dido, Joni Mitchell, Edie Brickell, think Tall Poppies.
If Tall Poppies’ Thursday is like drinking life through a straw, make mine chocolate flavoured! Oh! And it is really like sex for the ears.
Tall Poppies - Thursday is released independently. Head to thetallpoppies.com for more information.
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