Having shared stages with talents such as Little Barrie, The Mountain Goats and The Posies in recent times, New South Wales trio WALLSPACE also caught the ear of discerning luminaries when it came time to make their debut LP, with the legendary Rob Younger (Radio Birdman/ New Christs) producing and overseeing the sessions and Stuart Coupe’s ever-receptive Laughing Outlaw wisely deciding the release the end results.
Because WALLSPACE aren’t half bad. Comprising brother and sister creative pairing Nick (lead guitar/ harmonica/ vocals) and Savannah Elias (vocals/ guitar) and drummer Jason Kingshott, their debut album “Nightweather” is gritty and earthy without being too rough and ready and showcases a trio with real potential for the future.
Rob Younger’s garage-rock pedigree often gets the best out of the band when they are grubbing around in the dirty, blues-y margins. Opening track “How’s Your Love Life” is gloriously sneery and gritty and full of sawn off riffs and Nick’s junior Brian Jones blues harp; “Everything I Wanted” is gloriously bitten-off and compelling and sounds a spunky amalgam of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and early, less sophisticated Go-Betweens and “I Don’t Care Who You Love” works well by remembering to keep it as lippy and simple as possible, not to mention reeking of attitude.
Admittedly, because they are a bass-less outfit who – on occasion – plug directly into the muddy delta, they will have to refute White Stripes comparisons, though at such times (“Death Of The Cool”, the angry and smouldering “I Don’t Care Who You Love”) there are still enough of their own idiosyncracies in there to keep it interesting. Elsewhere – like on the intimate, piano-led portrait of a clandestine tryst on “Meet Me Up By The Lighthouse” or the gentle, but hugely regretful “Rosetta” – they show signs of both wanting to explore sonically and tapping into a languid melancholy that’s pretty damn attractive in its’ own right.
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In some places they’re not quite there just yet. The anaemic, abstract reggae-style skank of “Where Has The Singer Gone” is ill-advised at best and – while she does have a great voice – Savannah sometimes sounds like she can’t decide which of her heroines to try and emulate, as you’ll hear when she strains for her best Karen O on “Death Of The Cool” and jars like a youthful Chrissie Hynde on “Should I Call”, where the plangent backing sounds like it would be better suited to Cherry Red’s “Pillows & Prayers” compilation rather than anything vaguely rockist.
These are relatively minor gripes, though, and while “Nightweather”s creators may not yet kick off a major sonic heat wave for us to bask in en masse, they’re sure as hell much more fun than getting caught in a downpour and their future forecast suggests there will be lengthy sunny spells rather than continual low pressure.
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