Albums of the Year # 20 The Goon Sax - Mirror II

 

 

Mirror II the third album from young Brisbane trio The Goon Sax is a revelation. The sound of a band expanding their sound from basic inide templates to something much broader and more expansive, in the most exciting and successful way. Everything the band has done has been worthy of attention but this is quite unexpected and notable.

Something that needs to be foregrounded, as it always inevitably is, (whether the band like it or not), is that mainman Louis Forster is the son of Robert Forster of The Go Betweens. This is not mere biographical detail, as The Goon Sax are a three-piece composed of two male guitarists and a female drummer, just as the classic, original line up of The Go Betweens was.

They also inherit much musical DNA from that band. Their songs are jerky, offbeat, angular takes on Velvet Underground and Jonathan Richman inspired emotional melodrama. But Mirror II sees The Goon Sax truly moving into their own space. All three band members, Forster, Riley Jones and James Harris contribute vastly different sounding tracks and I'd say the record is all the better for its schizophrenic qualities.

Forster was originally the main songwriter but now duties are more democratically shared. Jones is that coolest of things. A female Rock and Roll drummer who sings, with all the allure of a Sixties siren with leftfield, artistic leanings. Harrison takes a different slant. That of shambling, jangling, Eighties indie off tune vocals. Think The Pastels, The Television Personalities and Josef K..As the excellent review of the record by The Guardian's Alexis Petridis, (which I've drawn on here) suggests, Forster still contributes the albums, 'most immediate songs.'

It's a very exciting record in this respect. The sound of a band spreading their wings, reaching maturity and leaving the nest as they enter their early Twenties. It was almost impossible to imagine them becoming this when you first heard their debut album Up To Anything which was a great record but a small one, firmly grounded in teenage ennui and the Brisbane suburbs.

They're a different band now and an immeasurably better one. They forge their songs from a fascinating range of musical and artistic sources and although the record is startlingly diverse, it's also wonderfully thrilling. You can't help but imagine Robert Forster must be phenomenally proud. It will be very interesting to see where they go from here and whether they can beat this.For now, this is more than enough.