Augie March - One CrowdedHour

Mon 6th Feb, 2006 in Music Reviews

Melbourne quintet Augie March return with a brand new single, One Crowded Hour, which has been taken from their forthcoming third album release, Moo, You Bloody Choir – and to put it simply it’s vintage Augie March. One Crowded Hour is a controlled piece of music which moves along quite nicely with its early chimes on the guitars to the ghostly back up vocals and harmonies shimmering their way in the background of frontman Glenn Richards’ always impressive and engaging vocal delivery.

The electric guitars continue to shine through and grind into the rolling rhythm parts which explode towards the end of the tune with a fiery military progression on the drums, as Richards picks up on a sense of urgency that has crept into his pitch, sounding eerily similar to a Jeff Buckley and even Tim Rogers. One Crowded Hour sways gently from side to side before stretching its legs and releasing the anthemic sounds of the organ and keyboards, which add rich texture to the track and send it flying into some other time and place, where classic folk and rock sounds merge together to produce a uniquely appropriate and signature Augie March song.

One Crowded Hour’s mood and temperament is quite reminiscent of a lot of the songs off Augie March’s first album, 2000’s Sunset Studies, but there is still that maturity and experimental ‘big band’ sound which was found all over their sophomore release, Strange Bird. Recorded in San Francisco in mid 2005, following the bands three month support of musical legends Wilco, it seems that Augie March have paid close attention to the genius of Jeff Tweedy and company. Not that Glenn Richards was ever short on inspiration for writing intellectual and poetic verses which captured the mood of the song, but in terms of continuing to expand on the total package or performance, whereby each and every musical note and instrument plays its specific part in constructing the narrative and moving the piece along with exquisite emotion appeal.

One Crowded Hour delivers on all counts possible and is a brilliant taste test to the forthcoming third album release, due in March). Produced by Eric Drew Feldman who has been credited with working alongside, PJ Harvey, The Polyphonic Spree, Captain Beefheart and Custard, Augie March once again find themselves evolving into greater musicians, thanks largely to the ideas they create, the visions of grandeur they possess, and the eclectic people that they surround themselves with. We’re all very much looking forward to the release of Moo, You Bloody Choir, to witness how the rest of the Augie March story unfolds, but for now sit back and enjoy the brilliance of One Crowded Hour, or more specifically the four minutes and sixteen seconds.