The relevance of this artist hailing from Australia is one
that you can choose to apply or not, although characters and surroundings from
his homeland play a significant part in the record. The secret to this release,
his fourth since commencing recording under this name in 2009, is the honest
and straightforward way he goes about tackling the song subjects. To provide
some content to the style adopted, think more along the singer-songwriter route
with a slice of fiddle and steel casually added to spice up the array of
ballads. The song writing makes you sit up right from the off with the high
impact line ‘women, do what you must, cos there ain’t a man in this world you
can trust’ that leads you into ’I Hope
That I’m Wrong’. From that moment, you are caught in the web of a writer
with plenty of sense to contribute to a progressive agenda.
Throughout the twelve song-fifty one minute playing time,
there is plenty of engaging content to absorb. Like many of the better records currently
around, this album is not designed for the quickly discarded pile. Interesting
snippets and facets will continue to emerge after endless plays, though
listening will never sink into a chore as an affable façade is painted to the
vocals and soundtrack.
To place the album on safe ground, tracks one to seven
barely have the width of a song sheet between them when deciphering potential
stand out candidates. In line with the thought-provoking title and cover
photographs that throw up a million potential story angles, two of the opening
half a dozen songs roll out as duets with female singers Shanley Dell and Lindi
Ortega. The former leads off on ‘The Basics
of Love’ a song with more than a casual reference to the Waylon Jennings classic ‘Luckenbach
Texas’. The more familiar Lindi, to fans in the UK anyhow, helps on ‘Don’t You Take it Too Bad’ as we delve
deeper into traditional country music territory. This style is replicated in 'It Tears Me Up (Every Time You Turn Me Down)' with added fiddle making an appearance.
Piano ballads frequently pop up across the record as
evidenced by ‘Sweet Bird of Youth’ in
the early stages and ‘Someone You Know So
Well’ at the end. ‘Careless Hearts’
possesses the strongest chorus hook, while if you fancy a little waltz ‘Stolen
Again’ will oblige. The key story telling song on the album appears in the #2
slot with the starkly titled ‘A Portrait
of the Artist as a Middle Aged Man’; a song that you will probably go back to a few times
to grasp. In the midst of this song, the album title appears as a lyric to shed
some light on possible meanings.
Elsewhere ‘In New York’
is a descriptively inspired experience piece complete with the obligatory guitar
solo. This heads a trio of tracks in the final throes of the album including
the quietly mindful ‘Peace in the Valley’
and a dose of personally injected twang into ‘The Cemetery Near My Home Town’.
There are times when listening to Lachlan Bryan reminds me of
Cale Tyson, with the stripped out southern twang of course. Such association
scores high in my book and SOME GIRLS (QUITE) LIKE COUNTRY MUSIC is a most welcome
entry to the music collection. 2018 sees Lachlan Bryan and the Wildes return to
the UK for a run of shows including a re-appearance at the Maverick Festival.
No newbie surprises are expected this time, just an accomplished set from a top
rate artist bringing an impressive batch of new songs to the party. Good stuff
is heard and felt in this album and fundamentally that is all that matters when
connecting an artist to a listener.