Echolalia
Something for Kate (Murmur/Sony)
* * * * 1/2

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If Something For Kate have their sights set on the next level, then Echolalia is a giant step up there. With the slick and dynamic production of Trina Shoemaker (Queens of the Stone Age, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow), SFK have created what will undoubtedly be one of the most acclaimed Australian albums this year. If you've been enjoying the first single, the wonderful Monsters, then Echolalia won't disappoint. Both lyrically and musically, this is first-clas all the way. As with their second album, Beautiful Sharks, the Melbourne band haven't allowed the constraints of being a trio to dictate in the studio, using whatever means necessary to bring album number three to large, lush, life: samples, keyboards, strings, layered and harmonised backing vocals that allay the risk of singer Paul Dempsey's distinctive voice tendering towards monotony, and some terrific production tricks. Echolalia is also a less tense and jagged journey than the gold-selling Sharks, with more than a few hook-heavy pop songs. Witness the choruses in Twenty Years and Old Pictures, the power of Jerry, Stand Up, or the sheer longing in You Only Hide - "I wander through the lost city of you" - that you can best the singalong SFK fans will eat up. For those who hadn't previously warmed the SFK, the door is now wide open. Now, no pushing please...
Jo Roberts

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