Thursday, 15 August 2024

The Damnwells - Bad At Beautiful

 


There's been a lot of muscle memory used for Anything Should Happen recently and its get used again for the return of The Damnwells. Alex Dezen is back with the original line up, Ted Hudson, David Chernis and Steven Terry and the quality is more than high.

The Power Pop seems less prominent, replaced by melodic Pop Rock not a million miles away from Crowded House. Dezen's pipes are in as fine working order as ever and at times he out Del Amitri's Justin Currie.



There are also hints of Americana at times, Chernis plays lap steel as well as he does Lead Guitar and that allows great variation, The Rhythm Section of Hudson and Terry is locked in, truly showing that the strength is in the sum of the parts of the quartet.

Morgan Wade duets on Easy Tiger and it is great Country Pop, but Chernis bursts into a Glammed up Guitar solo that redirects the song wonderfully. Falling Out Of Long is a magnificent song, as catchy as catchy can be and again underlines Dezen's lyrical strength.



Aaron Lee Tasman guests on the title track, a fine 70s Singer Songwriter affair. What If I Talked is wall to wall Neil Finn. Bad At Beautiful is wonderfully gentle, beautifully performed and arranged. The fact that a band as great as The Damnwells have to crowd fund is a sad reflection of the times and a realisation that too many don't appreciate what music brings to both art and mood.



You can listen to the album here and at these links.


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