Darren Hanlon -Fingertips andMountaintops

Sun 15th Oct, 2006 in Music Reviews

Fingertips and Mountaintops is the third release from Darren Hanlon and it delivers both something old and something new.  The cookie-cutter template of a typical Hanlon tune still presents in the form of intimate observations, poetic lyrics and warm guitar strums.  However, for all the similarities that can be made with his previous releases, Fingertips and Mountaintops is much more ambitious than anything Hanlon has previously attempted and, ultimately, is also much more rewarding. 

For those already acquainted with Hanlon, Elbows is his old school story telling at its cute best.  Conjuring memories of She Cuts Hair from his Early Days EP, it is a story of touching elbows with a famous actress told with the Hanlon’s uniquely twisting linguistics: “We only touched elbows, I felt our bones clank together / Then the moment was over in a falling feather / An accident sure, but it happened I’ll wrangle! / Our elbows did touch, our arms at right angles”.  There’s no denying the charisma in this typically Hanlon ode as he sings “Why I felt so alive I can’t quite determine / There could be a word that explains it in German”.

Other unmistakable Hanlon-esque tracks include Happiness is a Chemical(featuring the Shins’ Jessie Sandoval on drums) with its intimate observations that “A kiss sent down the telephone line can come out sounding like a bug getting squashed” and of “grasshoppers fling erratic parabolas / While you’re drowning ants with your can of cola”, and the salute to the freedom of living out of a backpack and on the couches of understanding friends that is “Couch Surfing”. 

But the more rewarding aspects of Fingertips and Mountaintops come from the tracks where Hanlon steps out of his comfort zone.  There’s no distinctively Kickstand Song or Squash upon which to fall back on.  Rather, Hanlon is confident enough to deliver us more grown up lyrics and themes while experimenting with orchestras of banjo, piano, harp, violin and even tuba.

The album’s opening track, Hold On, begins with the simple sounds of a ukulele and builds into something that is hauntingly atmospheric.  The song encourages deep introspection and has a more melancholy underlying that one would not normally associate with Hanlon, yet is still able retain the peculiar Hanlon way of looking at the world around him. 

Manilla NSW stands out for its glorious stage show tune delivery.  Imagine a lonely spotlight focussed on the protagonist as he tells the audience of his travels through a dying small town in rural NSW as a gusty grand piano accompanies him.  This arrangement provides the perfect vehicle for this art a lament, part a love song in which Hanlon has magically captured a different era altogether, an era where famous poets wrote about their geography and the simple ways of Australian life. 

Other notable standouts include The Ostracism of Vinny Lalor for its light-hearted tale of a young girl’s school dance (complete with horns) and the deliciously fun Don’t Bogart My Heart with its sing-a-long lyrics, clever rhymes (especially the amusing “I look behind my door to find my photo hacked apart / You can Brando my belongings but don’t Bogart my heart”) and crafty drumming of Bree Van Reyk.  The album’s icing on the cake is Katy Davidson’s divine vocals on Fire Engine.

There is a little bit of everything for everyone on this album.  One gets the sense that Fingertips and Mountaintops was the type of album Hanlon was trying to create with his previously acclaimed but slightly disappointing Little Chills.  With Fingertips and Mountaintops, Hanlon has confidently landed a killer blow that reconfirms his position as one of Australia’s most underrated songwriters.