tdh Opinions Reviews Breathe

Breathe

Reviewed by The Daily Pennsylvanian

Ahhh, intelligent music! It's such a nice thing. Hidden in between all the meat-head rockers of the '80s were a few groups that had what it took to survive in a Poison, Skid Row, and Kixx world. A rare breed, these groups that you may look back on and say, "No, wait a minute, even though they were around in a hair spray-driven glam-rock decade, they were actually good!"

Go through old song lyrics in your mind -- "Like a virgin, touched for the very first time," and "Hungry like the wolf." Somewhere along the way you're sure to run into "how can we sleep when our beds are burning?" or "The time has come to pay the rent, to pay our share!" Wise lyrics, of course, from the educated minds of Midnight Oil.

Yes, the boys from "down-under" are back with a new album titled Breathe. They didn't even have to greatly alter their sound or image because, besides the fact that the lead singer had a shaved head in the '80s and therefore no need for hair spray, Midnight Oil never sold their image; they always sold their music.

The new album is not as political as some of their others but there are subtle lyrically political references in certain songs. Otherwise, the lyrics tend to be poetic, bucolic, and folky. As one would expect from an Aussie band, there is a song devoted to ridin' that wave, "Surf's up Tonight." Religious references pop up here and there, especially in "Sins of Omission," "Star of Hope" and "Bring on the Change." "In the Rain" sounds David Bowie-esque. Musically, it is a pretty clear-cut guitar driven record with a well-balanced degree of every type -- clean, distorted, and acoustic.

So if you're looking for an album with a mix of traditional-acoustic, harmonica-peppered songs paired with harder, electric guitar driven tracks, Breathe could be for you. Midnight Oil hasn't lost their unique sound -- or their ability to diversify it.

Reviewer: Ben Gardner