Album Review: Eskimo Joe, Wastelands
Sara Potter gives a listen to the latest Eskimo Joe longplayer for somethingyousaid.com:
Wastelands is the 6th studio album by Perth’s Eskimo Joe. Known for their catchy pop-rock hits, they have proven themselves a to be valuable Aussie act. Wastelands is a little different, creating a more current synth-pop sound with some old school punch, this is a refreshing and much-needed change for the boys.
There are some great pop driven songs on this album, so I suggest listening to them first before digesting the record as a whole, as it takes more than a few listens to get into. These would include, ‘Not Alone’, ‘Got What You Need’, ‘Every Harmony’, ‘How Was I To Know’ and ‘Keep It Coming’. All of these songs consist of upbeat drums mixed with blissed-out synth and simple melodies with full gang vocals. Together they all make the perfect soundtrack to summer.
Tracks that are a little harder to vibe are ‘Sad Song’, ‘Disgrace’, ‘What You Want’ and ‘Last Beacon Light’. Now in saying this, they are all listenable, and have their own message within the album but are waaay more laid back compared to the sister tracks, so just be prepared for highs and lows. ‘Last Beacon Light’ is one of my favourites and is still super electro but with a darker undertone and futuristic spin, heavily cluttered with an abrupt ending, a perfect song to close to the album.
I have left one track out of the mix and that is the first song ‘Running Out Of Needs’, why did I leave it out?
I feel that it really has no place on Wastelands and is pretty damn horrible with its acoustic guitar driven sound it just doesn’t mesh well.
Besides that grey area the album is pretty great and is a nice change for Eskimo Joe. When a band changes that much and pulls it off convincingly they deserve positive feed back, so good on ya boys.
Words by Sara Potter.
