The Reservations - LastImpressions

Sun 28th Nov, 2004 in Music Reviews

As summer heats up, sweat starts to drip, and flowers start to droop, and being very lazy seems like the thing to do. When the sun viciously beats down on your window, trying to squeeze through the blinds, you know it’s time to just kick back and do sweet fuck all. Peeling yourself off the lounge and easing towards the fridge to grab a beer is the most that can be reasonably expected of you.

It’s at times like these that The Reservations can fit in wonderfully. Last Impressions is the debut effort from this Sydney two-piece, who’ve been receiving airplay on FBi, and playing with notable locals like Dave McCormack & The Polaroids, Peabody, Youth Group and theredsunband.

When Last Impressions is good, it’s awfully lovely. Songwriter Danny Yau and guitarist Casey Atkins serve up some breezy, relaxed songs about love lost, love found, love yearned for and well… more love.

The tracks that are made for summer – when the band loses most of its auxiliary members – are examples of everything right about love-struck guitar-driven pop. Joni Mitchell’s Blue is a yearning, folky number framed around that 1971 classic, packed with charm and perfect for an easy summer afternoon. Emily is a country-tinged encomium to insecurity, complete with a gorgeous solo that sounds like it was plucked from a 1950s radio station broadcasting to the Arizona desert. Messy is superbly sad and yet soothingly breezy. When Yau sings – a little nasal and plenty sincere 

I can shut my mouth
You probably like me better when I’m not around

it’s delivered with a sense of hope that maybe things will change. It’s lovely, a perfect soundtrack for a lazy day in the backyard. Think Gary Jules if he was playing around Enmore.

Not all the tracks are so breezy. The rock numbers – the three-chord distortion of Somebody New, the speedy Calvin & Hobbes and the catchy Can I Go With You? – don’t sit quite right. They’re not bad by any means – Calvin & Hobbes and Can I Go With You? are incredibly radio-friendly in a good way – but they lack the immediacy and warmth of the acoustic numbers.  Whilst the rock-pop tracks no doubt go down a treat live, on record they seem a little out of place when surrounded by such lovely, simple, quaint efforts.

Last Impressions is an intriguing, often charming work, and acts an effective notice that The Reservations are a band to watch, and definitely one to look out for live.