SOMETHING FOR KATE
Beautiful Sharks (Murmur/Sony)
There is a wintry fragility about many of the songs that Something For Kate write. Like one of those tourist trap snow dome things. You know the ones. Those little glass domes with a small village scene filled with water. They look really beautiful, and then when you shake it up a million plastic things that look like the red cancers of barbecue shapes go floating around and make it look like it's snowing, and for a minute it looks even more sweet and peaceful. But then if you watch them for long enough, as the snow settles and calm returns, the whole scene develops a sense of eerie helplessness. There is a silence inside the bubble, and from the beautiful chalet no one can hear you scream. I'm pretty sure that were the little building inside the bubble a band venue, then the band playing there would be Something For Kate.
The title of this second LP sums things up perfectly. The water surrounding this one is indeed filled with beautiful sharks. It seems the things that are most dangerous to us are truly the things that are most attractive. So it is with these songs. They are full of pain, full of silent melancholy, full of ache, and they circle the listener with their golden smiles gleaming in the winter sun. And as the listener is submerged beneath the water of this album, the most noticeable thing is how little you can hear, and then you realise, as the songs start to circle you, that from under here no one can hear you scream.
Silence. I'd say it sounds like an odd word to use to describe an aural medium, but it actually sounds like nothing. Something For Kate, and producer Brian Paulson, it seems, have understood the incredible power of silence. And they have used it brilliantly. As with 'Strategy', the highlight track from their previous album, this disc succeeds through its use of space and silence. Knowing when not to overdub a guitar and when not to add a string section imbues the disc with a haunting sencse of cold. It is safe to say that you won't walk away from 'Beautiful Sharks' humming a tune, but it is equally safe to say that you'll find it hard to walk away.
Applause must go to the band for not following a successful debut by taking the easy option and releasing some half-arsed piece of grunge-pop. Something For Kate had put themselves in a position where doing that must have seemed like the easy, profitable path to follow. Instead they have challenged their audience to follow them on a difficult and demanding journey. Kind of like the Lorne Pier to Pub. And swimming with the 'Beautiful Sharks' is a dangerous game, especially when the band let their hearts bleed into the water so freely. But, it seems, even the sharks respect the eerie sense of silence here, and the feeding frenzy that so often threatens never really happens. Every time the guitars and drums begin to thrash about-as on single 'Electricity'-the tense calm is immediately reinstated, as though the band themselves are aware of the carnivores nearby. But they do nothing. They just circle and watch, perhaps captivated by the naked strengh and emotional power of this album.
The overall impression of 'Beautiful Sharks' is one of time suspended, of numbness, or dislocation. Like those film scenes shot underwater. It is a tough listen. Paul Dempsey's voice is as sorrowful an instrument as I've heard, and there probably isn't much on offer if you looking for instrumental variety. But as an album, 'Beautiful Sharks proves once again that Something For Kate are one of the best songwriting bands in the courntry. So if you think you can handle being trapped inside one of those snow domes after the snow has settled, and you're looking for something to do while you're there, check out who is playing at the chalet, a let Something for Kate do the screaming for you.
JUSTIN MURRAY
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