Halfway
Remember The River
Laughing Outlaw Records

Halfway and I got off to a bad start really. Hearing the buzz, with promises of stepping inside a house with pictures of The Jayhawks, Uncle Tupelo and Neil Young on the walls, I think I expected too much. I expected something else. It wasn't what I got. You know, the dangers of labels. Like being told that you're gonna get served paella but it's Chilli Con Carne there in the bowl. Oh, well, Spanish name, but not quite from Spain and it's not fish. It's very good though. See what I mean?

Halfway manages to hit that point right between so many spots, sounding as if they could come out of anywhere (they're from Brisbane, Australia) and playing music with a fuzzy family-tree (they call it country music). I mean that in the best possible way. They're what, to me, resemble a good band; songs that don't nail them to a genre, voices from different singers that don't spread all over the plate, making it sound like it's a compilation-disc - and it's obvious that they like what they're doing. They don't come out too ambitious but still with an obvious wish to reach further. And I truly hope they do. They've got that loose swing of things but still tight enough for dance. And truly enough to keep me interested the tenth time around the record.

I've already recommended the record to friends with a thing for Richmond Fontaine and Drive-By-Truckers. Ok, it's the same people with a huge thing for Whiskeytown and Uncle Tupelo, but those references wouldn't work for Halfway.

Highlights such as "Dearest Mother", "Factory Floor", "Left For Luck" and "Edge of the Peer" are so good that weaker ones, like "Big Wave", don't count much for complaints. Another Aussie output that puts shame to the unfairness of "down under", unless you put all the best in "underdog".

Copyright © 2006 Anders Svendsen