Epicure - Main Street

Fri 28th Oct, 2005 in Music Reviews

Main Street is in fact the fourth long player by Epicure, the smooth rockers who hail from rural Victoria and it’s a really fine listen with some great elements of musicianship combining to form the full package – good catchy pop/rock with forlorn melodies, heartbroken tales of despair, lost love, rejuvenated love, hope, death, angst and a professional recording with the acoustics complementing the impressive string arrangements very nicely indeed.

2004’s Goodbye Girl was the perfect pre-cursor to Main Street and shows that the five piece from Ballarat have taken stock of their future musical direction with vocalist Juan Alban continuing to explore all things concerned with the heart and head. He somehow manages to elaborate on his feelings and expanding his, at times, wispy delivery with a vocal that cries out with pure honesty, and moments of deep regret, combining with some pretty heavy and remorseful times.

Alban’s vocal cracks intermittently on the twang fuelled Lyla’s Kisses,

“Don’t wake me up if I’m dreaming tonight
I’m better off here in my memories
And in years to come I will reminisce
About Lyla’s kisses on my lips.”
 
The song really does move along quite productively and incorporates some simple but steady percussion which gives Alban the opportunity to feed off the interplay of the keyboards and guitars and deliver his introspective thoughts in the cold light of the day.

With both of the tunes Pack My Parachute and Blow Those Blues Away finding guitarist Daniel Houlihan moving his fingers across a blues range which he has perfected over the years on his axe – the sound of the guitars recall a definitive sense of a Ry Cooder-esque fluidity to the progressions on display, which really do frame the aforementioned tracks and lift them up to higher ground.

Title track Main Street is impressive as it brings together a kind of lazy back beat and ‘churchy’ hymn like qualities with the angelic and breathy backing vocals of one of the Rat’s leading female vocalists in Dani Fry. There’s a sense of Joe Cocker’s You Can Leave Your Hat On somewhere in their also, as Alban apparently refers to his days spent reflecting on the familiarity of his home town.

“Kick your heels down Main Street again
Can you feel the grave pulling at your heels my friend
Cut Your Tears Loose, they’re no use here anymore
You know you’ve hit the ground, the second you hit the floor
... Could you take me away from the eyes that I’m getting here
... I don’t wanna die here ...“

The song Amen is the standout on the recording and has been a true favourite of mine for many years, after I heard it ‘pop’ up in the odd live show a while back – I’m glad it has made its glorious debut on Main Street. The longest track on the album, coming in at 6:43 minutes, Amen is pardon the pun, truly heavenly, as Alban delves into a bit of the old divine moments just for interests sake and to exorcise the many demons that he and his lead female protagonist are facing … lord helps us – lord help us all! This definitely ain’t an anthem that the Catholic Church will embrace with lyrics such as;

“Jesus ain’t no friend of mine
Just one look into my baby’s eyes tells me
That he don’t listen to her prayers
No he don’t fucking care
That she cries herself to sleep every night
Clutching his merchandise...”

It’s really clear from the songs and structure of Main Street that Epicure has moved well ahead of their past limitations, utilising the studio space with producer Chris Thompson who had most notably turned Augie March’s Strange Bird long player a few years back into the crisp and full blooded sound which it was deserved of – there is no exception here as Thompson and Epicure have worked well together in order to achieve the desired effect.

It’s on Epicure’s Main Street that the listener finds out a couple of things – Juan Alban’s fascination with tales of remorse and his use of metaphors relating to death (both spiritual and physical), his omnipresent use of the terms crucifixion, pain, demons inside our heads, suicide etc, and of a band who are still producing high quality and intelligent songs in the 21st century without resorting to selling out what’s true to them, and hence staying on the road of independence.