Sarah Blasko - TheOverture and theUnderscore

Wed 15th Dec, 2004 in Music Reviews

Thank god for Missy Higgins. Just when it seemed like 2004 would be the year of the Australian Idol reject and the retro-rock revival, Higgins appeared with her Scar EP and brand of unpretentious, radio-friendly pop, and suddenly people were clambering to find the next big thing in Australian female-driven music. Glossy magazines ran spreads on Sally Seltmann aka New Buffalo who in 2004 released the sublime The Last Beautiful Day. Rolling Stone’s ‘New Women in Rock’ feature gave props to Melbourne’s fantastic sexxx-trash combo Your Wedding Night, who garnered national radio play. And then there’s Sarah Blasko.

With Blasko’s debut EP Prelusive being released in September 2002, it has been a two year wait for debut album The Overture and the Underscore. It has been worth the wait. Blasko’s blend of intelligent, complex yet accessible pop combined with one of the finest female voices in Australia is a joy to listen to, and more than justifies her high rotation airplay on Triple J.

Kicking off with one of said JJJ favourites, All Coming Back, the track recalls the slow guitar strumming of fellow Sydneysiders Stella One Eleven until the 2.22 mark, when the atmospheric yet not overpowering beats kick in. Listening to it with headphones on is akin to hearing Radiohead’s Kid A for the first time – truly stunning.

Personal favourite Always Worth it, with its chorus of “always worth it, if only to realise/not always perfect but somehow deserving of time” features stunning and intricate keyboard overdubs in the chorus which compliment Blasko’s voice wonderfully. But make no mistakes, Blasko’s voice is the key instrument here. Producer/mixer Wally Gagel – who has also worked with Muse and Eels – has given her voice its rightful position as the most prominent factor in the mix, so when she croons such lines in At Your Best “if only you were at your best/instead of fighting yourself at once” the lyrics stab you in the heart instead of being drowned out in a sea of acoustic guitar. There is little double-tracking on the vocal track, giving the whole thing the raw, intimate simplicity of a live performance.

Elsewhere, Counting Sheep’s stripped-back melody is a call to arms for all fans of Cat Power, and True Intentions is a truly stunning declaration of independence (“don’t let me in/I’ll shut you out/take control of the wheel and now/it’ll lead me on to a sense of my true intentions”) tinged with melancholy. Don’t U Eva with its SMS-style title, which was inspired by a visit Blasko made to an REM fansite – is as close to a perfect edgy pop song as you could ever dream of, with an understated electric guitar used in the chorus and the whole thing driven by a haunting keyboard line.

The basic song structure remains the same throughout the album – acoustic-driven pop which reaches a crescendo with the inclusion of horn and string arrangements, with the whole thing driven by Blasko’s versatile voice.

Blasko’s lyrics are largely retrospective and refreshingly void of the sort of first person narration that plagues many other singer-songwriters. Most songs are open letters of sorts, all to unnamed protagonists – but the ambiguous nature of lyrics such as “did you forget it all? do you listen when I call?” in Cinders means that it is unclear whether the lyrics are applicable to past or current lovers, ex-friends, family members.. and Blasko’s insistence on keeping a large section of her lyricism private is a world away from singers who want to tell the world, in detail, of all the skeletons in their collective closet.

The Overture and the Underscore is a wonderfully produced and brilliantly executed example of the talent of one of Australia’s finest female performers. While some have been aware of Blasko’s talent for years, it’s about time the rest of Australia did too. Watch this space.