Betchadupa - Aiming ForYour Head

Mon 11th Oct, 2004 in Music Reviews

With Aiming For Your Head Betchadupa eschew all claims of the difficult second album (an even more admirable feat when considering that the average age of the band’s members is around 20 years old). Betchadupa’s previous album The Alphabetchadupa was a fine debut, but failed to fully capture the appeal of the band’s live show. Recorded completely live, Aiming For Your Head has no such shortcomings; it’s focused, refined and powerful.

New Zealand born and bred (now currently residing in Melbourne), the four-piece quickly garnered a reputation for one of the fiercest live bands on offer. Indisputably, it was this repute that attracted famed producer Nick Launay (whose CV includes Midnight Oil, Silverchair and Nick Cave) to work with the band on their latest release. Indeed, the collaboration is an even more impressive accomplishment when considering that these sessions were the first time Betchadupa had actually used a producer.

With their debut, Betchadupa, understandably played it reasonably safe. With an apt combination of rollicking guitars and acoustic ballads, the record remained inside its own narrow parameters. Conversely, Aiming For Your Head takes plenty of risks to which first single Who’s Coming Through The Window can attest. Apparently written in a fit of activity-induced paranoia while the band were staying in a New York hotel, the track, not surprisingly, is both wonderfully schizophrenic and incredibly catchy. The shimmering guitars and splicing riffs of the single are featured heavily throughout the album including on the explosive Weekend.

Irrefutably, the previously released Move Over is by the far the most infectious track the band have written to date. Although just recently recorded, the perennial live favourite dates back to the Alphabetchadupa sessions (this fact perhaps betrayed by its slightly simplistic nature).

Aiming For Your Head’s opening track My Army of Birds And Gulls with it’s delicate balance of quiet and loud, demonstrates the extent of the band’s transformation. The old Betchadupa would certainly not have included such an eerie, spacious track on the album, much less as the opening song.

Straight-up guitars are further shunned on My Song on which Neil Finn performs beautifully unsettling piano. Another of the record’s highlights is Diversions (also enhanced by Finn senior’s piano). Manic and restrained, Diversions makes adept use of start/stops while carried principally by Finn’s remarkable song writing ability.

Examining Finn’s lyrics on Aiming For Your Head, it’s difficult to believe that this is the same band whose first song was titled Gee, This Sounds Good, I Can’t Believe We Wrote It.  To this point, Betchadupa may not have been known for their exceptional lyrics but this record, specifically opener My Army Of Birds And Gulls just might prove otherwise.

The birds they make faces at me
It’s all a big conspiracy
They start to sing when I try to sleep
It drives me mad, they’re calling me
Under my rock it never stops
I love them though they’re all I’ve got…

While Betchadupa’s sophomore effort does contain quieter numbers in the vane of its predecessor, on said tracks the vocals soar that little bit more, the lyrical constructions are more intricate and the bass lines are significantly darker.  A startling follow-up, with promise of an even brighter future.