Some bands burst into the public consciousness with a flare of brilliance, or simple novelty, and just as quickly disappear. Others – Australian quintet Powderfinger, for instance – slowly build their sound and identity through hard work and perseverance, and then appear, fully-formed, leaving listeners asking, "Where did THEY come from?"
Powderfinger comes from Brisbane, Australia, and over the seven years since their 1994 debut album they have become the top rock band in their native country. Winners of nearly every major award in Australia – including the 1999 Australian Record Industry Awards for Album of the Year, Best Rock Album and Song of the Year - their albums have regularly gone multi-platinum Down Under.
Now, with their fourth album, Odyssey Number Five (Republic/Universal) about to become their first U.S. release, the group is preparing to repeat its success on a whole new continent. The 11-song album has already been a huge hit in Australia, having gone five-times platinum since its release.
Australia's Rolling Stone said, "Powderfinger's 'Odyssey Number Five' is the record that might just introduce the band to the rest of the world…This is orgasm rock: songs that begin with a little acoustic foreplay and then build and swell to huge, soaring climaxes…The even better news is that this album is absolutely filler-free."
Powderfinger is well equipped to repeat that feat worldwide. Fronted by passionate, provocative singer Bernard Fanning, the band has a bold aural sweep and a grand conviction that evokes the best that rock can offer. Comparisons have been made by journalists and the band themselves to Radiohead, U2, Crowded House and David Bowie, but despite passing similarities, Powderfinger comes out sounding like no one so much as themselves.
That's because their goal is the same as those other artists'.
"We want to make records that sound good for a long time," Fanning told Australian journalists. "Our music isn't really dependent on fashion or trends, it's pretty traditional."
Captured in the studio by American producer Nick DiDia (Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine), the band makes good on that promise. While they add strings to some songs and compelling sonic effects to the twin guitars of Ian Haug and Darren Middleton, the band never loses sight of one simple goal: creating music people can connect with.
That's immediately obvious on the album's first single, "My Happiness," which announces itself with an instantly appealing guitar hook and then gradually unfolds into a miracle of epic rock with pop appeal. The song was a hit in Australia, and its direct melody and distinctive sonic flavor will likely hook American listeners as well.
As the album progresses, it becomes clear that the surging, elegant melody of "My Happiness" is the rule, not the exception. Having written and recorded three previous albums and three EPs, Powderfinger went into the studio knowing what they wanted and knowing how to get it.
"In the past, we've gone into the studio with as many as 35-40 numbers of varying styles," says Fanning, "Because all of us are informed by different kinds of music, from Led Zeppelin through to Joy Division, from Sam Cooke through to The Cramps. This time around, however, we whittled it down to just 15 that we felt worked together before we started recording, so we were much more in control of the kind of album we were going to make."
This time, lush mid-tempo rock dominates: in addition to "My Happiness," there's the complex, sophisticated "The Metre", with its acoustic guitar-and-orchestra break, as well as the memorable "These Days," with its irresistibly melancholy chorus: "This life, well it's slippin' right through my hands/These days turned out nothing like I planned."
But the band's roots as a highly-charged live unit are evident in the overall feel of the album, and particularly on the Bowie-influenced political rant, "Like A Dog," as well as the funky, charging "We Should Be Together Now" and the aptly-titled six-minute rave-up, "Thrilloilogy."
Unlike past albums, Fanning's gorgeous voice has been put front and center. But the members, who write the music together (with Fanning providing lyrics), are adamant that they are a band of equals. And one listen to the album, with its edgy guitars, complex backing vocals, unique rhythms and overriding energy, supports that contention.
With prior excesses trimmed, skills honed through years of gigging and a burning desire to reach a new and wider audience, "Odyssey Number Five" is the sound of a band coming together at the right moment: song and singer, singer and band, band and song, fused by experience and passion into one powerful whole.
And as they appear, the world is going to wonder: Where did THIS come from?
Source: http://powderfinger.tamerlane.org/literature/articles/on52.html
