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Self release [Release Date 04.08.23]
The Pleasures are an Australian duo comprising Catherine Britt and Lachlan Bryan, supported by a fine rhythm section who always serve the song.
The duo are the focal point throughout on 11 uncompromising, finely crafted songs full of rich harmonies which bring to life a succession of story telling narratives full of rueful reflection and at times simple regret.
It’s an album that might easily be filed under Americana, if only for the variety that the genre offers them.
Impatient listeners might dismiss this album as being too country, but this would be too ignore a rich tapestry of roots rocking, tinged material and even a quasi shuffle.
Indeed on the opening title track, they immediately reminded me of the more folky Irish/ Australian duo Hatfitz and Cara, albeit The Pleasures are more locked into rich vocal harmonies, which go a long way to explaining the band’s name.
It is also the gateway to a series of troubled relationship narratives, viewed from all angles. In this case the chorus amplifies the sheer zest of being caught up in a new relationship which you secretly think might not work out.
“Ohhhhh ooh ooh but I’d do it all again, Ohhhhh ooh ooh there’s nothing to defend, I think that was the beginning of the end.”
The key to the success of an engaging album is the way the 11 tracks flow seamlessly, courtesy of a variety of related genres with the clever use of vocal harmonies and the way the duo beak up their dialogue in to a mix of ‘call and response’ lines and verses.
This gives the effect of a song being examined from the two different angles.
This is particularly so on the excellent ‘Every Story Has Two Sides’, on which duo push themselves to new levels, on a song that is given a further boost by a gnawing guitar break, before the angst settles on the titular hook.
They almost resemble a couple of psychologists who undertake a series of checks and balances, on a song that benefits from the kind of sludgy West Coast arrangement made popular by the likes of Monophonics.
The lyrical antagonism leads to closing uncompromising couplet: “I’m gonna tell them all I’m right, Every Story Has two sides.”
Clearly the duo don’t do things by halves. Both artists have a stellar musical history, with Catherine having recorded with Elton John and worked with Guy Clarke and Steve Earle, outside of her own 8 solos albums, and countless awards.
Lachlantoo is a celebrated singer-songwriter and a multi award winning artist who revels in the kind of edgy story telling that makes this album so engaging.
Together they bring every facet of their respective talents to bear on meticulously crafted songs filled with glistening harmonies, which though rooted in country are not a prisoner of the genre.
You get the feeling that no line is forced and no musical note is wasted. Their vocal versatility is a function of their unflinching lyrics which deconstruct relationships in all their forms.
The country tinged ‘You Made Another Woman Out Of Me’ for example, is given its impetus by perceptive observational lyrics which capture some more of those excruciating moments in a break up.
The laidback feel of “Mutual Friends’ also benefits the album’s thoughtful sequencing. Ostensibly a divorce song it’s built round an almost conversational duet, which leads to the duo’s perceptive conclusion;
“If only you could take back all the things you said, But the damage is done you put the image in their heads,
Wonder how you’re gonna feel when you’re beginning again, Wonder how you’re gonna face our mutual friends.”
The following ‘Paranoid’ rocks a little harder and is given an occasional surreal edge: “I believe that Elvis, Is somewhere still alive, He just wanted freedom from the Vegas grind, Once I saw him sitting with Cobain in a bar, They were sipping cherry colas, humming come as you are.”
The use of a similar breathless vocal to be found on the outstanding ‘Homewreckers’ perfectly distils a style built on edgy lyrics, peerless double vocal lines and intuitive arrangements.
‘Sad Song’ has a reflective, sonorous heartfelt country feel, right down to the use of a fiddle and a beautifully crafted chorus that’s worth repeating:
“Sad songs, Melodies for love gone wrong, Every record I hold dear is covered in my tears, Lonely lullaby, Designed to make you cry,
A love can last the test of time, If you put it down in rhyme, Then it’s a sad song?”
They being contrast to their playlist again when they rock out the Wolf classic ‘Howling For My Darling’, framed by a bone crunching production, complete with fuzz guitar, echo laden vocal and a snappy back beat.
You could imagine Samantha Fish covering this, as it fits the currentNashvilletinged roots rock template.
It actually poses a question about the album as a whole, do the duo stick or twist with a Chicago style blues-rocker like this, at the expense of the broader country appeal. The jury is out.
‘Three Star Hotel’ finds them in stripped down acoustic mode on a romantic style song that musically could easily fit The Band’s back catalogue.
Then there’s ‘I Fell for It’, a honky tonk bar room style shuffle, which in the context of the rest of the album sounds like an after thought, but thematically it fits the album perfectly.
There’s a belated return to an unashamed country vibe on a beautiful cover of an ethereal outlaw love song ‘Seven Spanish Angels’, on which each verse draws us into a doomed relationship.
The song is built on a gently strummed acoustic andLachlan’s emotive vocal intro, while the Noirish lyrics inexorably leads the song to the expected conclusion, which almost ironically delivers the perfect book-end to an empathetic album:
“They could hear the riders comin’, He said This is my last fight,
And if they take me back to Texas, They won’t take me back alive,
There were seven Spanish Angels, At the altar of the Sun,
They were prayin’ for the lovers, In the Valley of the Gun.
They finish with the classic line: “Seven Spanish Angels took another angel home.”
The Pleasures encourage us to immerse ourselves into intricately woven and sometime dark lyrics, brought to life by two supremely talented songwriters whose vocal ability is admirably matched by well thought out arrangements.
File under songcraft and musicianship of the highest order. ****
Review by Pete Feenstra
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