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Breathe |
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Breathe
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Breathe |
Peter Garrett sings with the solemn air of a funeral director in "Surf's Up Tonight," one of the 13 tracks on Midnight Oil's startling new album. There are no wipeout guitars, no squealing vocal harmonies. Instead, the song moves at a methodical march tempo, slowly gathering momentum. "There's a place where you can forget," Garrett intones purposefully. "You get wet, it's free, you get high, you're alive." Leave it to the Oils to champion the metaphysical, transformative aspects of surfing. The message: Lose the Hollywood stylization of beach culture and rediscover the pure adrenalin rush of the sport -- still pure, still religious, still real.
The ability to move beyond conventional interpretation -- way past preaching and bumper-sticker sloganeering -- is an Oils specialty. The Malcolm Burn-produced "Breathe" -- the Australian band's first new studio record since 1993's "Earth and Sun and Moon" -- maintains that crusading fervor. "Forget everything that you think you've been promised," goes the chorus of "Bring on the Change." But the sound of "Breathe" is more varied and nuanced than that of previous Oils efforts. There are triumphant anthems like "Time to Heal" that echo Joshua Tree-era U2 alongside stunningly basic, acoustic folk songs such as "Barest Degree." The band even takes a stab at country balladry in the rather awkward "One Too Many Times," while "Home" is an improbable but affecting duet by Garrett and Emmylou Harris.
Where once the Oils' records were filled with wide-screen screeds, the lectures on "Breathe" are offset by evocative mood pieces like the downcast gem "In the Rain." Such diversity brings Midnight Oil's maturing strengths into sharp focus. In fusing the hurtling momentum of punk with the righteousness of old-timey hymns, the Oils have arrived at a potent music that uplifts as it agitates.
Reviewer: Tom Moon